Tigers go two and out at district

A season filled with excitement, frustrations and adversity but very few wins finally came to a close Saturday night for the Mountain Home Tigers at the District III 4A boys basketball tournament at Caldwell with their loss to Kuna.

The Tigers had opened the tournament last Tuesday with a loss to Bishop Kelly.

Bishop Kelly 59

Mountain Home 30

Any hopes Mountain Home might have had of pulling off an upset were dealt a huge blow when the Tigers failed to score in the first quarter, missing all eight shots they took as they trailed 14-0 after a quarter.

After a Steve Tracy basket made it 16-0, Knights, Jarrod Roberson got the Tigers on the scoreboard with two free throws with 5:48 left in the half. Thirty seconds later, Matt Maurer scored for the Tigers' first field goal. Maurer would score again to cut the deficit to 16-6, but Bishop Kelly led at halftime, 25-13.

Mountain Home scored just six points in the third period, while the Knights poured through 20, and it was 45-19, Bishop Kelly heading into the final quarter.

"I don't know how much we believed we could win," said a disappointed Tiger basketball coach Tony Kerfoot in comments after the game. "When you go almost a month and a half without scoring a point there in the beginning of the game, that kind of takes away any belief that you have, and I thought that was kind of the way we played, with it being more of a scrimmage after that.

"Whether it was tournament jitters or what, we couldn't hang on to the ball, we couldn't shoot, we couldn't do much of anything in the first half, and I told them at half-time we were fortunate to only be down by 12.

"Then we started the third quarter a little rough, too. We did not look good at all, offensively, but part of that you've got to give credit to B.K. There's a reason they're second in the conference."

Matt Maurer led the Tigers with a season-high 13 points, and brought down seven rebounds.

Jarrod Roberson scored 10 points, Keith Yagues scored three, and Brian Fields and Chase Bitterman both had two, as the Tigers had their lowest output point-wise of the season.

The Tigers connected on only one of 22 (5 percent) three-point attempts for the game, and shot just 31 percent (11/35) inside the arc. They shot a dismal 50 percent (5/10) from the free-throw line.

Bishop Kelly shot just 17 percent (2/12) from three-point range, but were 23 of 42 (55 percent) inside, and shot 54 percent) from the foul line.

Kuna Kavemen 76

Mountain Home 63

The Bishop Kelly loss put the Tigers against Kuna in a loser-out game on Saturday night at Caldwell. Kuna had dropped its opener to Nampa, 59-53.

Inspired by Emmett's upset 56-46 win over Vallivue in the first game of the night, the Tigers looked much better to start the game, and went on a 7-0 run midway through the first quarter to take a 16-10 lead, before an 11-2 run by Kuna put the Kavemen up, 21-18 after a quarter.

After two baskets by Jarrod Roberson to start the second period, the Tigers led 22-21, with 6:25 left. There would be eight turnovers and nine missed shots and over five-and-a-half minutes go by before Mountain Home would score again, on a trey by Keith Yagues that cut the Kuna lead to 31-25.

A trey by Jarod Kelly and a basket by Oren Whiting put the Kavemen up 36-25 at halftime.

The Tigers tried to rally in the third, but could come no closer than nine, as Luke Durrant scored 10 of his 22 points in the quarter to keep the Tigers at bay. It was 55-42, Kuna, heading into the final quarter. The Tigers refused to quit in the fourth, and cut the deficit to 61-53, on a trey by Keith Yagues with a little over four minutes left, but the Kavemen cashed in on 11 of 14 free throws down the stretch to stay alive with a 76-63 win.

"I thought the kids played real hard tonight," said Coach Kerfoot after the game.

"I thought we had a good effort and it was pretty entertaining basketball. We had a few shots that didn't drop, and we didn't shoot well at the free throw line, and a few things like that, but you've got to take your hat off to Kuna, they shot the ball extremely well."

Jarrod Roberson led the Tigers with 23 points. Keith Yagues added 16. Chase Bitterman netted eight points, Brian Fields finished with five, Matt Maurer had four, Trevor Lawson and Jonathan Hutchins each scored three, and Travis Eikeness finished the night with one point.

Mountain Home connected on 33 percent (11/33) of their three-point attempts, and shot 41 percent (12/29) on two-pointers. They shot a chilly 33 percent (6/18) from the free-throw line.

Kuna connected on 32 percent (6/19) on treys, 54 percent (21/39) of their two-pointers, and 64 percent (16/25) from the foul line.

Mountain Home won the battle of the boards, 36-31, with Chase Bitterman bringing down seven rebounds.

The Tigers end their season with a 3-19 overall record.