Tigers start season's second half with two more losses

The Mountain Home Tigers started their second time through their conference schedule with losses to Skyview and Nampa last week.

Skyview 49, Mountain Home 41

The Skyview Hawks led from start to finish Wednesday night handing the Mountain Home Tigers a 49-41 loss in conference boys basketball in a near capacity Blackout Night in Lloyd Schiller Gymnasium in Mountain Home.

The Hawks, led by the first half shooting of Austin Sharp, jumped out to an 18-13 first quarter lead, and took a 25-16 lead into the locker room at half-time. Sharp had 13 points in the first half.

The Tigers defensively held Sharp to just two points in the second half, but Holton Hyde took up the slack, scoring 12 of his game-high 17 points in the second half to help keep the Tigers at bay.

Mountain Home fell behind by 13 points early in the third quarter, but battled back on an 8-0 run late in the quarter to cut the deficit to five, 35-30, heading into the fourth quarter.

Skyview quickly upped its lead to 40-30 early in the fourth.

After Jarek Schetzle scored to make it 40-32, with 5:51 left, Skyview spread the floor and used the clock to their advantage. The Tigers were able to cut the deficit back down to five, 43-38, with 1:27 left, but Skyview cashed in on six of 10 from the free-throw line the rest of the way for a 49-41 victory.

Tiger head coach Brion Bethel lamented turnovers at costly times.

"We had 22 turnovers in the game and I'd say probably 12 to 14 in the second half, and we can't beat a quality team like Skyview with that many turnovers. The kids don't make turnovers on purpose -- they're working their hardest -- we just got to do a better job as coaches of preparing them in practice and putting them in those situations. That's the only thing we can do is keep trying and putting them in those tough situations."

Jared Schetzle led the Tigers with a season-high 15 points, and recorded a double-double, bringing down 13 rebounds. Christian Riedel added 11 points and had nine boards. AJ Woodruff had nine points and 10 rebounds, Garrett McKenzie had three points, Tyler Park two and Devin Wright one.

The Tigers shot 31 percent from the field, including five of 21 on three-point shots. They continued their struggles at the free-throw line, hitting just 36 percent.

Skyview shot 33 percent from the field, hitting seven of its 17 long balls and didn't fare much better from the line -- 42 percent -- but did make six more on 10 of 24 from the line.

Nampa 58, Mountain Home 40

Nampa jumped out to an early lead and led all the way Friday night, beating the Tigers 58-40 in Lloyd Schiller Gymnasium in Mountain Home.

The Tigers fell behind 9-2, and got within one at 9-8, but Nampa led 13-8 after a quarter and led 28-19 at the half. The Bulldogs went on a 12-0 run to end the third quarter and put the game out of reach, 49-25, after three.

Mountain Home had its most productive scoring quarter in the fourth, but it was too little, too late, as they fell to the Bulldogs, 58-40.

"It was one of those nights where we couldn't take care of the ball --too many turnovers as always," said Coach Bethel after the game. "We've just got to get ourselves in position to take care of the ball a little bit better."

Christian Riedel led the Tigers in scoring with 15 points, hitting five three-pointers. AJ Woodruff added seven points, Brion Bethel Jr. six, Garrett McKenzie five, Tyler Park three and Devin Wright and Jarek Schetzle both had two points.

The Tigers have two more home games this week, hosting Caldwell Tuesday night and Bishop Kelly Friday night.

"For us, every game's a tough game," said Coach Bethel, "and we have to approach each game one game at a time and focus on doing things right. That's our main goal right now to minimize turnovers, and getting better -- that's all we can try to do.

"District are just around the corner and if we can just keep getting better a little bit at a time, when district get here, everybody's record is 0-0, and that's our goal -- just keep getting a little better every game."

The Mountain Home News continues its series of taking a closer look at the Mountain Home Tigers boys varsity basketball team.

Chris Wright

Chris Wright is a five-foot, seven-inch freshman. The son of Corey Wright and Shanada Pendleton, his main hobbies are hanging with friends and staying busy with sports.

His goal for the season is "become better at playing the point guard position." Future goals include "graduate from high school, then play college football and the NFL if I can."