Tigercats: On to State

The Tigercats secured bragging rights as one of the top eight 1B teams in the state with a 59-52 win over Wellpinit in the regional tournament on Saturday. The Southeast District 9 is well represented at the state tournament this year as Pomeroy also earned a trip after defeating Odessa-Harrington.

The Tigercats took to the court with confidence and an early scoring run led by Darcy Stamper gave the Tigercats the lead they would maintain for the remainder of the game. Wellpinit began the game in a trap defense, but soon eliminated the trap as it provided Stamper with the chance to hit the Tigercats first shots.

Stamper hit two 3-pointers on the first trips down the court and sank a short jump shot before any other athlete contributed points. Tigercats’ Jed Zimmer battled in the paint to put up two more points before Stamper hit another jump shot to give the Tigercats a 12-0 advantage over Wellpinit.

Halfway through the first quarter, Wellpinit put up their first points and began breaking down the Tigercats defense. The Tigercats held on to their lead with key shots from Stamper, a free throw from Zimmer and two free throws from Austin Summers, who drew a foul during a breakaway attempt midway through the quarter.

The Tigercats ended the first quarter with a substantial lead, 20-9, but struggled to maintain the scoring drive in the second quarter. Wellpinit outscored the Tigercats 15-10 in the second by running the floor and throwing the Tigercats off balance on defense.

Going into the game, head coach Mike Jones said the team needed to focus on ball movement and rebounding, and the two predictions rang true. The Tigercats outrebounded Wellpinit 50-48 and remained the most successful when they had solid ball movement on the offensive end.

Both teams struggled to put up points in the second quarter until the last two minutes before halftime when Wellpinit scored 11 points. The scoring drive brought the halftime score to 30-24, with the Tigercats continuing to lead.

While the Tigercats held on to the lead for the entire second half, Wellpinit brought the game within three points at the end of the third quarter, 43-40. The fourth quarter was a scramble for Wellpinit who came close to tying the game on multiple occasions, but defensive rebounds by the Tigercats eliminated put-back opportunities.

Stamper continued to be a driving force on the court not only by putting up 29 points in the game, but also forcing turnovers late in the fourth quarter. The Tigercats went into a full court press in the fourth and gained last minute points off of Wellpinit’s turnovers, either off of lay-ins or by drawing fouls.

The Tigercats were 16 of 25 from the line during the regional game, a significant improvement over previous free throw shooting percentages this season. Jones hopes the team continues to improve from the line throughout the state tournament this week, as he expects the games to be close and the difference of the game could be determined by free throws. The team has a goal of making 15 foul shots during a game, which translates to playing aggressive offensively.

With 2:39 left in the game, the Tigercats lost their height in the key when Zimmer received his fifth foul. Even with the loss of Zimmer, the Tigercats outscored Wellpinit seven to five in the final minutes, with the majority of points coming from free throws.

Alec Fleming went to the line with 17.7 seconds left in the game and sank two shots to end the scoring for the game. Fleming had four points total in the game, Zimmer ended the night with 10 points and Justin Wargo had seven. Summers put up five points and Riley Roberts had two.

The Tigercats face Soap Lake in the first state game in the Spokane Arena on Thursday, Feb. 28, at 7:15 p.m.

“Soap Lake poses some problems: they have active guards and do a good job inside,” Jones said. “But they are young on the perimeter.”

With a team comprised completely of juniors and seniors, Jones is looking towards leadership and experience to be a benefit over the younger Soap Lake team, and other teams in the state tournament. Soap Lake primarily runs a zone defense, but also runs a hybrid defense of man-to-man on the perimeter and a zone defense with the two post players.

“We’re a little bigger and our perimeter players are more experienced,” Jones said as a benefit for the Tigercats. “We hope to attack; our emphasis is on attacking the basket.”

Jones is looking to the athletes to continue working well together as a team and working on putting a full 32 minutes together.

Jones said the team can compete with any 1B team in the state when the Tigercats are playing their best basketball, and he hopes the team proves it at the tournament.

This is Jones’ third trip as a coach to the state tournament, but this is the first time the Tigercat athletes will step onto the court under the lights of the arena.

With a win over Soap Lake on Thursday, the Tigercats will play at 9 p.m. on Friday, while a loss will move the game time to 2 p.m. on Friday.