Middleton stomps Mountain Home

Keyshawn Liggins was a one-man wrecking crew Friday night at Middleton as he led his Vikings past the Mountain Home Tigers, 64-55.

The six-foot, three-inch senior guard scored 10 of his game-high 39 points in the first quarter as Middleton broke away from a 6-6 tie to take a 17-9 lead after a quarter.

Mountain Home cut the deficit to two on a couple occasions in the second quarter and were within reach, 25-21, at the half.

Keyshawn Liggins outscored Mountain Home 17-13 in the third quarter as the Vikings built its lead to 49-34. Middleton enjoyed their biggest lead -- 57-39 -- after a Liggins bucket with 4:53 left. From there the Tigers closed on a 16-7 run to make it a 64-55 final.

"We just didn't have an answer for him," said Tiger Coach Brion Bethel of Keyshawn Liggins' 39-point effort. "That kid's so talented, it didn't matter who we put on him. When you're hot like that, you just hope you can contain it, and we didn't do a very good job of that!"

Chris Wright, Christian Riedel and Devin Wright each scored nine points to lead the Tigers. Tyler Park netted eight, Jarek Schetzle six, AJ Woodruff and Brandon Reyes both had four and Brion Bethel Jr. and Garrett McKenzie each scored three.

Mountain Home's poor free-throw shooting continued to hurt them, as they hit just four of 13, while Middleton hit 17 of 29 -- a 13-point margin in a nine-point ball game.

This week, the Tigers host Kuna Thursday night and travel to Columbia on Saturday night. They close out their regular season schedule Tuesday at home against Emmett.

"We've just got to figure out how to weather that storm a little bit better in the third quarter," the coach said. We know exactly where our weakness is -- taking care of the ball -- but we'll get there."

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

Brion Bethel Jr.

Brion Bethel Jr. is a five-foot, eight-inch freshman. The son of Brion and Melanee Bethel, his hobbies include motorcycle riding, playing basketball and cars.

His goals for the season are, "to become better at handling the ball, a better passer, and to be the best point guard I can be, so I can help the team."

His future goals are to go to college.