Tigercats start strong in district play

The Tigercats played in their first district basketball game against Pomeroy on Feb. 9, walking away with the first win over Pomeroy this season. The Tigercats beat Pomeroy with a final score of 53-42.

In regular season play, the Tigercats lost to Pomeroy by nine points in the first game and 15 points in the second match up. The Tigercats had two players step up and lead the team with an impressive number of points.

Jake Aune, a senior, led the scoring with a total of 22 points in the game, 19 of these points he made in the second half. In the fourth quarter alone, Aune made seven free throw shots and converted a two-point shot.

Darcy Stamper also took to the court and racked up 21 points for the night, as well as being the only Tigercat player to score in the first quarter. Stamper made 14 of his points in the first half and sank three perimeter shots during the game.

“The last couple games we’ve been able to hit some shots, which is helping us a lot. Pomeroy packed it in on us, and forced us to shoot from the perimeter. But the shots fell,” said head coach Mike Jones.

The Tigercats normal leading scorer, Jed Zimmer, battled with the Pomeroy defense since they took away the majority of his interior shots. Zimmer still ended the night with seven points for the Tigercats.

Justin Wargo made two points in the game from converted free throws and Matt Stubbs made one shot from the free throw line.

“We actually went into halftime down by three and came out and were able to take the lead by three by the end of the third quarter,” said Jones. “And we just kept it going from there, the kids played hard and played well. We controlled the boards in the second half, compared to the first half when it was kind of back and forth.”

The Tigercats did not have long to celebrate the win since they faced Colton on Saturday and only had one practice to prepare. The Tigercats lost to Colton in regular season play with final scores of 36-70 and 39-65.

In the district matchup, the Tigercats battled but fell to Colton with a final score of 65-72. The game had been a back and forth battle, usually keeping the two teams within a four or five point difference.

“In the first quarter, they jumped out to a 20 to 10 lead, but it was 32-30 late in the second. The boys worked really hard, it’s not easy to go to Colton and play in that gym. They’d (Colton) been off all week; we’d only had the one night to get ready for that game. I’m really proud and pleased with the game overall,” said Jones.

Aune and Stamper again led the Tigercats in scoring, Stamper ended with 18 points and Aune with 16 points. Wargo stepped up and finished with 12 points, also ending the night being five-for-five from the field.

Zimmer had more inside shooting opportunities than the game before and finished with 10 points. Austin Summers put up seven points for the Tigercats and Alec Fleming ended the night with two points.

The Tigercats ended up shooting about 45 percent from the field, and Colton nearly mirrored that as they shot 44 percent from the field. Colton made most of their points from the paint while the Tigercats were forced to take more perimeter shots.

With only two minutes left in the game, the Tigercats found themselves down by four points and with only four team fouls in the half. The Tigercats began fouling in hopes of getting possession back, but Colton converted the free throws, making nine of their points off of free throws in the last two minutes.

The Tigercats began the game intending to take away inside shots from the Colton players, but after two guards from the Colton team made 12 points on outside shots in the first quarter, the Tigercats changed their strategy and took away the perimeter.

The Tigercats managed to make a couple three-point shots late in the fourth quarter, but it did not end up being enough to close the gap. Jones is still proud that the Tigercats managed to keep it such a close game, considering the last two games against Colton.

“Our key going into the rest of the tournament now is that our guards have to rebound better. We did a good job rebounding in the last two games, but we need to get better,” Jones said.

The Tigercats played Garfield-Palouse on Tuesday, Feb. 14, walking away with a win in the loser-out part of the competition, and winning the game with a final score of 62-51. The Tigercats now face Rosalia in a loser-out game on Friday.

Stamper stepped up again to lead the Tigercats in points, racking up a total of 19 points. Summers added 16 points to the scoreboard.

Both Zimmer and Aune scored eight points for the Tigercats against Gar-Pal while Wargo and Sam Harder each had four points. Fleming rounded out the score with three points in the game.

“It’s going to be a busy week, we’re all tired but we don’t want to see the season end. We’ve fought ourselves off and on all season, but going into this part of the season, we’re finishing plays and doing good overall. The kids are playing good right now and they’re playing with confidence,” said Jones.

“We’ve beat Gar-Pal three times and a fourth is going to hard, but we’re going to do all that we can. It’s an uphill battle, but it’s one that we look forward too.”