Ninth-grade boys fall to Nampa 50-42 in season opener

The ninth-grade boys basketball team opened its 2009-2010 season this past week traveling to Nampa for a game versus the Bulldogs, falling 50-42.

The game started fast as both teams used fast-break offenses and ran up and down the court. The Bulldogs jumped to an early lead 14-12 after the first quarter. In the second quarter, the young Tigers fell behind by eight but after a time-out they went on a 10-1 run capped off by a 3-point shot by Cameron Hale at the buzzer. They went into halftime trailing by only one, 23-22.

In the third quarter both teams again went on the attack and when the dust settled, the Bulldogs led 40-35 going into the fourth quarter. In the last quarter, the young Tigers again fell behind, putting together a strong run but coming up short 50-42 at the final buzzer.

The leading scorer for the Tigers was Tyler Elliott with 14 points. Doug Long put in eight points. Cameron Hale, Ben Dearing, Tyler Senger and Skyler Podesek each had four points, while Robie Ranft and Skyler Quinteal rounded out the scoring with two points each.

Although they didn't score, other team members who helped the team were Ruben Guyton, Malcolm Freer, Taylor Rector, Jesse Rodriquez and Mitchel Rodriquez.

"I was very pleased with the way the boys played," head coach Brian English said. "We are trying to get the boys to play a fast-break type of game so we knew coming in that there would be some areas that we would be okay in and some that would need to be worked on. For our first game I feel the boys exceeded my expectations. Now our job is to build on this and get better."

The team has three games this week. On Monday, they hosted Skyview, Wednesday they travel to Bishop Kelly and on Saturday they host Columbia. Monday and Wednesday's games are at 6:30 p.m. while Saturday's game is at 1:30 p.m. All home games are played at Mountain Home Junior High School.