Tigers prepare to open their 2007 season facing Timberline Thursday at home and Vallivue Friday

The Mountain Home Tigers open their 2007-2008 boys basketball season this week, hosting Timberline Thursday night, and traveling to Vallivue on Friday night.

Tiger boys basketball coach Tony Kerfoot is excited about this year's squad.

"The guys that we have are the guys that played all summer and they've put some time in it, and I think we had a great summer program. It's the best we've had since I've been back to Mountain Home, and it's the best that I can remember. I'm real excited about it because we've got kids coming out and they're almost in midseason form right now. They know what we're doing, and are doing stuff we weren't doing by the third week last year, so that's a real good sign, and much needed, especially since we open with the two top 5A teams, and those are going to be real tough challenges."

Mountain Home opens their season Thursday night at home against Timberline in Lloyd Schiller Gymnasium. They travel to Vallivue on Friday night.

The Tigers play their first conference game on Dec. 6 at home against Columbia. Coach Kerfoot sees this year's Southern Idaho Conference 4A race to be really up in the air.

"I think the conference race is going to be extremely close. I don't see any real standout team. I don't see any team that stands out the other way, either, and I think it will be extremely tough all the way through."

Thursday night's action against Timberline starts with the sophomore game at 4:30 p.m., the junior varsity contest to follow around 6 p.m., and the varsity game to start somewhere around 7:30 p.m.