Tigers split final games at district

The Mountain Home Tigers kept their basketball season alive last week night with a district tourney win over Emmett, but saw their season end last Wednesday night with a loss to Nampa.

Tigers 58, Huskies 47

The Tigers and Emmett had split two overtime games during the regular season. Tuesday night's loser-out game did not go into overtime, as Mountain Home pulled away in the fourth quarter to beat the Huskies 58-47 at Emmett.

Mountain Home shot out to a 5-0 lead and led 11-7 after a quarter.

The Tigers lost the lead midway through the second quarter but rallied to go up 25-22 at the half.

Mountain Home built its lead to 29-22 early in the third quarter, but Emmett clawed its way back to take the lead, 32-31, with 1:51 left in the quarter.

That would be the last points Emmett scored until 2:56 was left in the game -- six minutes and 55 seconds -- as the Tigers went on a 20-0 run to lead 51-32.

A rally by Emmett was too-little too-late as the Tigers ended the Huskies season 58-47.

"I was really proud of those guys," said a happy Tiger Coach Brion Bethel after the game.

"They stepped up again in the third quarter and played some solid defense and played a good fourth quarter -- missed a few more free throws than I wanted -- but all in all, a win's a win."

The Tigers had three players score in double figures, led by Garrett McKenzie with 11. Devin Wright and Jarek Schetzle each netted ten points, AJ Woodruff eight, Tyler Park seven, Christian Riedel six, Chris Wright four and Brandon Reyes two. Devin Wright posted a double-double, bringing down 11 rebounds, and Chris Wright handed out five assists to lead the team in that category.

Nampa 68, Tigers 48

The Emmett win put the Tigers against Nampa on Wednesday night at Skyview. The number one-seeded Bulldogs had been upset by fourth-seeded Skyview on Tuesday night.

Mountain Home had not played well against Nampa during the regular season and Wednesday night was no exception as the hot-shooting Bulldogs ended the Tigers' season 68-48.

The Tigers came out flat in the first quarter and missed some easy shots. They trailed after a quarter, 20-3. That was a hole Mountain Home was never able to get out of, as the closest the Tigers would ever come the rest of the night was 10 points, 36-26, early in the third quarter.

It was 50-36, Nampa, after three, and the Bulldogs enjoyed their biggest lead, 61-38, with 3:33 left in the game.

Mountain Home finished on a 10-7 run to make it a 68-48 final.

"The kids came out flat -- the worst time of the season to do that," said Coach Bethel after the game. "Nampa's too good a team to take a quarter off and they proved why. We tried to play catch-up all night. The kids worked as hard as they could. We just couldn't get it done tonight."

Tyler Park and Jarek Schetzle led the Tiger in scoring with 13 points apiece.

Park recorded a double-double, pulling down 10 rebounds. Schetzle just missed a double-double, having eight boards.

AJ Woodruff and Devin Wright both scored seven points. Wright hauled down nine rebounds. Brion Bethel, Jr. and Christian Riedel both scored three points, Chris Wright had two and he shared team assist honors with Garrett McKenzie, each dishing out three.

The loss ends the Tigers season at 6-17. Although an improvement over last year's 0-20 season, Coach Bethel was not pleased with the record.

"We're not satisfied. We really expected more of our season. I'm proud of our kids. I love the fact that they're disappointed -- that shows me how much they care. We're not happy with six wins. I think the worked hard enough to get more than that, so I think it's going to motivate these guys to work hard this off-season."

Coach Bethel thinks the future is bright for Tiger basketball.

"We've got a whole bunch of guys coming back and that's the exciting part -- we've got a whole bunch of guys in the pipeline coming up for the next few years, so it was a rough season this season, but you've got to take your lumps sometimes to get where you want to be."