Tigers start new year with trio of additional losses

The Mountain Home Tigers' first week of basketball action in the new year saw them continue to show improvement, but did not produce any victories in three conference games.

Middleton 59, Mountain Home 48

The Tigers started strong, and battled tough all night, but an inability to hit shots, especially from the free throw line did them in Tuesday night, as they lost to the Vikings 59-48 in Lloyd Schiller Gymnasium in Mountain Home.

Mountain Home shot out to a 9-2 lead after three minutes and led 18-16 after a quarter.

The lead went back and fourth in the second quarter, with the Tigers last lead being 26-24 on a trey by Brion Bethel Jr. with 3:11 left in the half. Middleton went on a 7-0 run to end the quarter, up 31-26 at half-time.

Mountain Home got to within one point three different times in the third quarter, the last at 39-38, with 2:10 left in the quarter. It was 44-38, Middleton, after three.

Tyler Park's basket to start the fourth quarter brought the Tigers within four, at 44-40, but then Hayden Bennett scored eight straight points for the Vikings to make it 52-40, Middleto,n with 6:24 left in the game.

Jarek Schetzle's basket with 4:57 left made it 52-42, Vikings, and that was as close as the Tigers would get.

"We had our opportunities, even during that run they had -- we had layups we missed," said Tiger head coach Brion Bethel after the game.

"The kids worked hard as always, and they're getting themselves in the right positions and working hard, and that's the main thing.

"We're giving 100 percent effort and we're getting the opportunities, and they'll start falling. They've been working hard and putting the time in the gym, working on execution and catching the ball, passing the ball -- we just got to clean some things up. It's the first time we played since before the break, and that's a good showing."

AJ Woodruff and Tyler Park led the Tigers scoring with 12 points apiece. Jose Rodriguez and Jarek Schetzle both scored six points, Brion Bethel, Jr. added five, Christian Riedel four and Chris Wright three.

Kuna 49, Mountain Home 29

The Tigers got in early foul trouble and fell behind and were never able to get back in the game Thursday night, losing to the Kuna Kavemen at Kuna, 49-29.

A 4-2 start by Mountain Home looked promising, but a little more than halfway through the quarter the Tigers had three starters on the bench with three fouls. Kuna finished the first quarter on a 13-3 run to lead 15-7.

It proved to be a night of playing catch-up, "and that's hard to do when your shots don't fall for you," the coach said. Kuna led 21-13 at the half, 36-20, after three, and their biggest lead of the night was the final score margin of 49-29.

"It was a tough night," said Coach Bethel after the game. "It was one of those nights where nothing went right for us, and that's going to happen. All we can do is go back to the drawing board and try to get better."

Jarek Schetzle led the Tigers with eight points. Tyler Park, Christian Riedel and Devin Wright each scored four points, AJ Woodruff netted three, and Brion Bethel, Jr., Pete Ramadan and Joe Rodriguez all had two points.

Nampa 66, Mountain Home 39

The Nampa Bulldogs kept their conference record unblemished Saturday night, handing the Mountain Home Tigers a 66-39 loss at Nampa.

Nampa shot out to a 7-0 lead, and increased it to 19-6 after a quarter, on the strength of canning four three-pointers. It was 33-22, Nampa, at halftime.

Mountain Home's AJ Woodruff drained a trey to cut the Bulldog lead to 35-25, with 6:12 left in the third quarter. The Bulldogs then reeled off 16 straight points before Jarek Schetzle scored with 1:04 left to make it 51-27. Nampa led, 54-27, after three quarters.

Nampa's lead reached 30 points, at 60-30, with 5:50 left in the game, thus instigating a running clock the rest of the game. Mountain Home outscored the Bulldogs 9-6 the rest of the way to make it a 66-39 final.

"We're in a rut right now -- the guys aren't sharp right now -- we've got a little mental fatigue going on," said Coach Bethel after the game. "They're working hard and trying their best -- I know they don't make mistakes on purpose -- I know it's just a matter of us coaches doing a better job of getting them prepared."

AJ Woodruff led the Tigers with 17 points, 14 of those in the first half.

Jose Rodriguez scored nine points, Christian Riedel added six, Jarek Schetzle four points and seven rebounds, Tyler Park two points, and Devin Wright one. Chris Wright led the Tigers in assists with three.

The Tigers drop to 1-5 in conference and 1-8 overall. They are home tonight (Wednesday) against Columbia, and play at Emmett on Friday night.

"Every game we've had so far is a winnable game," said Coach Bethel. "Tonight (Nampa), as bad as we played, is a team we can play with. Emmett and Columbia, same thing, every game's tough for us -- we've just got to make sure we get the fundamentals and get some wins."

In related news, the Mountain Home News continues its series of taking a closer look at the Mountain Home Tigers boys varsity basketball team.

Christian Riedel

Christian Riedel is a six-foot junior. The son of Vickie and Kelly Riedel, his main hobbies are playing basketball and football, and his main goal for the season is to, "make the district tournament."

Riedel said that his future goal include going to college.