Tigercats ranked fourth as they prep for district tourney

With a loss to long time rivals the Colton Wildcats, the Tigercats fell to the fourth ranked team in the Southeast 1B league. The final league game against Colton resulted in a 59-43 loss, ending the regular season for the Tigercats with an 11-5 record in league.

The Saturday night game against Colton started out rough for the Tigercats, who were celebrating seven varsity seniors during the final home game of the season. The Tigercats started five seniors, and sat two regularly starting athletes to begin the game.

Colton got out to an early lead, ending the first quarter 17-5 over the Tigercats. Colton’s Dalton Patchen and Jake Straughan led the scoring drive for the Wildcats and ended with first quarter with six points apiece.

The Tigercats continued to struggle to contain Straughan from the perimeter for the remainder of the game, but Tigercats’ Jed Zimmer created a good balance defensively for Patchen. The two post players had a physical battle in the paint on both ends of the court, and Zimmer was able to use his strength to put up 14 points for the Tigercats.

By halftime, the Wildcats had a commanding lead over the Tigercats, 36-18. The Tigercats would be unable to close the deficit, but had a strong comeback in the third quarter to bring the score within six points with two minutes remaining in the third.

“Colton’s playing really well right now. They have two solid kids,” said head coach Mike Jones. “They shot the ball pretty well and did a good job getting them in the offense.”

“We didn’t do a real good job of rotating. At halftime we talked about some of those things and changed what we were doing,” Jones continued. “In the third quarter, we came out more aggressive, shot the ball pretty well, and disrupted what they were trying to do.”

The Tigercats held Colton to two points in the third quarter until Straughan hit a combination of shots at the end of the quarter to help the Wildcats keep a substantial lead. The Tigercats outscored Colton 16-7 in the third quarter, but were unable to keep the aggressive attitude and scoring drive into the fourth quarter.

For the Tigercats, Zimmer was the only player to finish the game with double digits. Justin Wargo ended the night with six points, while Joey Guske and Austin Summers each had five points. Darcy Stamper and Sam Harder had four points apiece. Riley Roberts contributed three points and Matt Stubbs had two points.

The Tigercats now move on to play in the first round of districts against the Rosalia Spartans on Thursday, Feb. 7, in LaCrosse with tip-off at 6 p.m. The Tigercats have split league games with Rosalia, winning by 13 points in the first match up and losing by five points in the second game.

“I know overall the game’s going to be a struggle; it’s going to be a difficult game. Rosalia is playing better,” said Jones. “It’s district: it’s going to be somewhat physical, but it should be fun.”

Jones said the Tigercats have to work to control the boards, especially against Rosalia’s Craig Nelson. Jones credits Nelson as one of the better athletes in the county, and the team needs to focus on keeping him from earning put back points.

“Our focus ultimately is to improve every day. We need to get back to what we do well: running the floor, attacking the basket and playing aggressive on the defensive end,” Jones explained.