Tigercats enjoy three-win streak

The LWK team started a three game winning streak after securing a win in Kahlotus Friday night against Liberty Christian. The Tigercats took the win from Tekoa-Oakesdale on Saturday before rolling to a win over St. John-Endicott on Tuesday.

Friday night served as a bit of an unknown game for the Tigercats, who played their first game in the Kahlotus gym against a much-improved Liberty Christian team. Head coach Mike Stubbs said from a coach’s standpoint, he had some uncertainty of what to expect going into the game, but the Tigercats proved their strength as a team early to control the tempo of the match.

The Tigercats jumped out to an early 20-6 lead at the end of the first quarter and Liberty Christian would be unable to close the scoring gap or match the intensity of the Tigercats the remainder of the night. The collaborative team effort was led in scoring by Darcy Stamper and defensively by Stephen Erickson.

“I thought our defense was outstanding, both from a team aspect and the aspect of Stephen Erickson,” Stubbs said. “We had him controlling Isaiah Ojeda, and Stephen held him to three points.”

Aside from providing the team with outstanding defense, Erickson also had a career high scoring night, contributing 12 points to the final score. Stamper continued to be the team’s primary scorer with 23 points.

Stubbs said he was extremely pleased with the team’s overall effort on both ends of the court. The Tigercats were the dominant rebounding team during the game, and their dominance on the boards limited the amount of put-back points for Liberty Christian.

“We controlled the game,” Stubbs stated. “We were running what we wanted to and running it fairly efficiently.”

Contributing to the Tigercats’ final points were Riley Roberts with 10, Cole Evans had six, Graham BeDell added four and Brandon Bennett had two.

Saturday night against Tekoa-Oakesdale, the Tigercats relied heavily on Stamper and Roberts to lead the offensive game, which contributed to the Tigercats’ 58-40 win. Roberts had a tremendous night in the paint and put up 23 hard fought points for the Tigercats. Stamper led the scoring drive with 27.

While Stamper and Roberts both had a high scoring night, Stubbs said it truly was a team effort to secure the win over Tekoa-Oakesdale. After coming off of a strong game night, Stubbs had hoped the vibe would carry over to Saturday, but said the team did not play with the same consistency of the previous night.

The Tigercats relied on athletes from the bench to step up and assist with playing aggressive defense and contribute to running plays on the offensive end. The team’s effort combined with Stamper’s ability to create havoc out front with his strong ball handling skills, and Roberts’ tenacity at the basket with put-back points helped secure the league win for the LWK team.

Stubbs said the Tigercats’ three-two zone defense created problems for Tekoa-Oakesdale and led to multiple turnovers forced by the LWK athletes. The Tigercats converted many to points, but Stubbs said the team did not capitalize on as many turnover opportunities as they should have, which led to a closer game.

Aside from Stamper and Roberts’ combined 50 points, Chance Rice had five points, Evans added two points and Jason Wigen sank one free throw.

The Tigercats defeated St. John-Endicott on Tuesday night in the teams’ first meeting of the season. The Tigercats won the game handily with a final score of 74-55.

Stamper and Roberts continued to have high scoring nights, with Roberts putting up 22 points and Stamper contributing 21. Chance Rice added 10 points and BeDell had six. Erickson and Bennett contributed five points each, Bo Rice had three points and Wigen had two.

The Tigercats face Rosalia on Friday night before hosting Garfield-Palouse on Saturday.