Freshmen boys drop two to 5A foes

The ninth grade boy's basketball team had a tough week, taking on the top two teams in the 5A ranks and dropping both games.

The boys hosted Centennial on Tuesday and traveled to Eagle on Friday.

In the Centennial game the young Tigers played tough man defense in the first half and held the Patriots to only 16 points, but poor shooting from both the field (25 percent) and from the foul line (29 percent) left the young Tigers behind at the half, 16-11.

Shooting from the field didn't get any better in the second half as Centennial spread the floor and used its speed to run past the Tigers 46-29.

Jake Hennessey led the team in scoring with eight points. Tony McKenzie and Alex Rodriquez each had six points. Rodriquez also led the team with five rebounds.

Tyler Knauth had four points, while Luke Filipovich had three points. Jared Day rounded out the scoring with two points.

Playing Eagle on Friday proved to be another daunting task for the young Tigers. Again, playing good defense in the first half the Tigers held the Mustangs to 22 points. But this time, shooting only 11 percent from the field and 33 percent from the foul line, meant the Tigers trailed 22-5 going into the lockers at the halftme.

The second half did not get much better as the Mustangs pulled out to a 45-20 victory.

Alex Rodriquez led the team in scoring with eleven points and rebounds with seven. Tyler Knauth had four points, Jake Hennessey had three points and Tony McKenzie had two points to round out the scoring.

"I thought we played okay on Tuesday," said head coach Brian English.

"We had our chances but missed way too many lay-ups and foul shots to beat a quality team like Centennial.

"For the Eagle game, though, I was very disappointed in the way my team played," English said. "I asked the boys who played at 110 percent in this game and only one person was willing to say that they did.

"I felt as a team; players and coaches that we didn't put enough effort into the game and to beat a team like Eagle we all needed to step it up a notch. Take nothing away from Eagle, they are undefeated for a reason, they are a very good basketball team."

The team hosts Meridian on Monday before traveling to Mountain View on Thursday, The team sits at a 3-9 record overall and is 1-4 in conference play.