Mountain Home rebounds at net to keep its district dreams alive

The Mountain Home Tigers lost their District Tourney opener to Middleton, but bounced back to beat Emmett to stay live in the tournament.

Vikings 52, Tigers 43

The Tigers opened the District III 4A Boys Basketball Tournament at Middleton Feb. 15 against the fourth-seeded Vikings, losing in a close game, 52-43.

Mountain Home shot out to a 7-2 lead three minutes into the game. The Vikings battled back to tie it at 7-7, but the Tigers led 9-7 after a quarter.

Karson Schrader came off the bench in the second quarter to lead a 9-0 Viking run that put them up 22-16. A basket by J.T. Cristobal at the buzzer made it 22-18, Vikings, at the half.

The Tigers pulled within three, 25-22, on two free throws by Tyler Casey with 5:23 left in the third, but another 9-0 run put Middleton up 34-22. They led 39-26 after three quarters.

Mountain Home rallied in the fourth to cut the deficit to four points, the last time at 44-40, with 2:42 left, but could get no closer, losing 52-43.

In comments after the game, Tiger coach Tony Kerfoot thought they put up a good effort.

"We've just got to execute our game plan a little bit better," the coach said. "I think we had the right game plan for them, and then our offense broke down and we started standing and watching. We needed more continuity. I thought in the fourth quarter we made a little bit better response out of that. We started making some plays within the offense, it was just a little too little, too late.

"Middleton's a good ball club," the coach added. "I really thought the key to beating them was stopping their transition. We had a couple bad offensive possessions that third quarter, and there they were, running down the floor making lay-ins, and that's where they got their lead."

Tyler Wright led the Tigers with 21 points and 11 rebounds. J.T. Cristobal added seven points, Tyler Casey six, Anthony Castillo four, Ricky Castillo three and Brent Sexauer two.

The Tigers hit just 32 percent (13/41) of their shots and were two for eight (25 percent) on treys. They shot a sizzling 88 percent (15/17) from the free-throw line.

Middleton shot 44 percent (19/43) from the field, but only hit on one of seven (14 percent) long balls. They made 13 of 17 (77 percent) from the foul line.

Tigers 59, Emmett 51

Like the first two meetings, Mountain Home again built up a big lead and watched Emmett battle back, but this time the Tigers hung on for the 59-51 win.

Emmett led just once, 5-4, but the Tigers regained the lead on their way to a 15-10 lead after a quarter. Mountain Home outscored the Huskies 17-3 in the second quarter to take a 32-13 lead into the locker room at halftime.

Mountain Home took a 44-24 lead into the fourth quarter, and built up their biggest lead, 50-28, with 5:18 left. That's when the Huskies made their run, cutting the lead to four, 55-51, with 12.1 seconds left.

Clutch free throws by Anthony Barboza and Tyler Wright sealed the deal, 59-51, as the Tigers ousted Emmett and stayed alive in the tournament.

"I thought the kids played real well," said Coach Kerfoot after the game. "Things got to be hectic at the end. They were intentionally fouling us as soon as they could to get the clock stopped... and we missed some opportunities. They got a lot of free-throw opportunities, and I don't know that all those were warranted, but hey, we survived, and that's what tonight was all about."

Tyler Wright led the Tigers with 21 points and 21 rebounds. The 21 points marks the third time this season he has scored that figure, and his 21 rebounds was a new season-high.

Anthony Barboza netted 11 points. Tyler Casey added eight, Ricky Castillo, seven (a new season-high for him), Anthony Castillo five, J.T. Cristobal three and Brent Sexauer and Luke Filipovich both scored two points.

The Tigers shot 42 percent (22/53) from the field, hitting three of 11 (27 percent) treys, and 67 percent (12/18) from the free-throw line.

Emmett shot 36 percent (15/42) from the field, hitting four of 16 long balls (25 percent) and shot 57 percent (17/30) from the foul line.

The win kept the Tigers' season alive. They faced Kuna last Tuesday night.

"That's going to be one, again, of who wants it the most, it's survival time," Coach Kerfoot said.

Besides the Mountain Home-Kuna game, Middleton faced Columbia in the other consolation game, with those two winners playing for third place Thursday night at 6 p.m. at Kuna, prior to the Skyview-Bishop Kelly district championship game at 8 p.m. Thursday, also at Kuna.