Tigercats lose pair of league games

The weekend proved to be filled with tough competition for the Tigercats when they lost two league battles to Rosalia and Garfield-Palouse. The two losses bump the Tigercats from the top spot in league, and drops the team to third in the Southeast 1B League.

The Tigercats matched up against Rosalia on Friday, Jan. 18, in a home game, but fell to the Spartans, 45-40. The Tigercats controlled the game until halftime when the Spartans went on a 28-14 run over the Tigercats in the second half.

“One of our keys for Rosalia was to rebound the ball and control the boards,” head coach Mike Jones said. “We got out rebounded down the stretch and that would end up costing us in the last minute. Unfortunately we did not shoot well in the second half, and became perimeter oriented, passing up some good opportunities in the key. To Rosalia’s credit they continued to play hard and won with persistence.”

The game was tied with under a minute left when the Tigercats suffered a string of unfortunate turnovers. In an effort to gain possession of the ball, the Tigercats fouled Spartan players but were unable to reclaim the lead when the fouls became converted free throws.

Due to illness, the Tigercats were without Jed Zimmer, the team’s post player who contributes an average of 10 points a game. Justin Wargo stepped up to lead the Tigercats’ scoring drive and ended the night with 18 points.

Alec Fleming earned nine points and Darcy Stamper had seven points. Joey Guske, Riley Roberts and Austin Summer each contributed two points to the Tigercats total score.

After suffering the Friday night defeat, the Tigercats traveled to Palouse to take on Garfield-Palouse. The Tigercats were handed their second loss of the weekend when Gar-Pal outscored the Tigercats, 55-42.

“We were outplayed and outcoached,” Jones stated. “They (Gar-Pal) came out aggressive, pushing our perimeter away from the basket, and we failed to attack the rim. To our credit, we fell down by 23 points in the first half and got it back to seven midway through the second half, so the kids didn’t give up and I was proud of the way they continued to battle.”

Wargo stepped up to lead the team for the second time in the weekend games and contributed half of the Tigercats points, with 21 total.

Stamper added six points to the final score, while Fleming and Guske had four each. Sam Harder had three points, and Matt Stubbs and Roberts each had two points.

The Tigercats move on to face Touchet and Pomeroy, and Jones does not expect the games to be easy for the Tigercats. Jones said he expects both to be close in score, as well as physical and aggressive games.

“We have a lot of basketball left and as the regular season winds down, our goals are still intact and obtainable,” Jones said.

The Tigercats travel to Touchet on Friday, with tip-off set at 7:30 p.m. The team has a home game in LaCrosse on Saturday against Pomeroy with game time at 6:30 p.m.