Tigers edge Kuna 76-75

The Mountain Home Tigers slipped past Kuna last Friday night at home for their first SIC 4A conference win of the season. Saturday night's game with Emmett was postponed due to weather conditions.

Mountain Home 76

Kuna 75

The Mountain Home Tigers refused to quit Friday night, battling back time after time to defeat the Kuna Kavemen in Lloyd Schiller Gymnasium for their first SIC 4A conference win of the season.

Kuna started strong and rolled to a 14-5 lead a little over halfway through the first quarter, but the Tigers caught fire on a trey by Brock Zamora, and went on a 12-2 run to take the lead, 17-16, at the end of the quarter.

In the second period, Mountain Home built up a seven-point lead, 29-22 with 3:33 left in the half, but back came the Kavemen, and with Nick Harris' trey at the buzzer, trailed just 35-34 at halftime.

Arturo Garcia hit three treys in the third quarter as the Tigers again built their lead back up to seven, but once again, Kuna fought back, and on a rebound basket by Bryce Hummel at the buzzer, led 60-58 heading into the final quarter.

The Kavemen then built up a seven point lead in the fourth, the last at 68-61, with 4:55 left.

Mountain Home rallied back, and tied it at 68-68 on a trey by Keith Yagues, with 3:08 left.

Mountain Home went up 71-68, but a basket and free throw by Reece Noble tied the game at 71-71 with 2:24 left.

After a basket by Oren Whiting put the Kavemen up 73-71, Clark Williams sank two free throws to tie the game backup at 73, with 1:35 left.

A free throw by Stephen Reinschmidt put the Tigers up 74-73, with 53.1 seconds left. A basket by Brock Zamora put Mountain Hoe up 76-73 with 11 seconds left.

Kuna played for the final shot, but the three- point attempt, failed, and had to settle for a two, and the Tigers prevailed, 76-75.

"It was a real good win," said a happy Tiger coach Tony Kerfoot after the game. "I thought we played real well! We adjusted to different things they threw at us. I thought Kuna was capable of playing. I did not see a 1-12 team out there -- or a 1-13 team now. They're a lot better than that, and they played some good basketball. We had to keep adjusting to where they were going. I had said before, we can't expect to win if we give up 70 points, but I guess we're happy to get some offense tonight. I thought we played pretty good offensively."

Arturo Garcia led the Tigers in scoring with 23 points ad 11 rebounds. Brock Zamora added 15 points and Stephen Reinschmidt hit double figures with 11.

Clark Williams scored a season-high nine points, Matt Maurer added seven points, Keith Yagues scored six, Travis Elliott netted three points, Jarrod Roberson, two.

The Tigers hit on six of 24 treys for 25 percent.

They doubled their shooting percentage to 50 percent (16/32) inside the arc, and shot 67 percent (26/39) from the foul line.

Kuna hit just four of 22 (18 percent) treys, but were 27 for 46 (59 percent) inside the circle. They hit just 50 percent (9/18) from the free throw line.

Despite the wild, fast-paced ball game, the Tigers committed just nine turnovers in the game. Kuna was guilty of 12.

Saturday night's conference game against Emmett was cancelled due to sever weather conditions. It will be re-scheduled at a later date.

The Tigers take a 1-3 league record and 4-9 overall mark into Thursday night's home game against the Caldwell Cougars. The Tigers travel to Vallivue on Friday night.