Encampment men top rivalry

In what turned out to be an exciting night of round ball on the hardwood, the Encampment Tigers (7-1), (2-0) hosted Valley rivals Saratoga (2-5), (0-2) on Thursday.

Assistant coach for the Encampment Tigers Kevin Pantle said, “You always look forward to these close mach-up games. You’re always a little bit excited, always nervous about the game.”

Encampment is coming off a loss at Hayden, Colo. and the Panthers suffered two conference losses two weeks ago.

“It’s always a good game and it’s always tough (the rivalry),” coach Pantle said before the match. “Everybody tries hard and I hope we learned from what we prepared for in the week and I hope we execute it.”

Both teams came to play, and it showed throughout the entire game. Encampments’ Kyle Wessel won the tip and proceeded to dominate under the rim. His competition for the night, number 23 Ben Falk, was also dominating under the rims, and wouldn’t let Wessel forget he was there.

A.J. Kuster also rebounded well in the first quarter, but racked up two fouls by the end of the first.

The game started with a fast pace and neither team slowed until the final buzzer. Turnovers and steals kept both teams sprinting up and down the court.

Although Saratoga played solid offense in the first quarter, not many shots fell for the Panthers led by Jake Fourman and Ben Gates.

Encampment had the lead after the first quarter 15-9, but the Panthers weren’t going to give up so easily. Saratoga’s offense, led in the second quarter by Ryan Malone, continued to rally and had cut the Tigers lead to just 9 points midway through the second.

Encampment poured on the heat and held off the Panthers offense with numerous steals and good rebounding under both rims. Number 20 for the Tigers, Harold Jackson kept the press on his Panther opponent Cameron Collamer, and solid aggressive play from Matt Jarrett had the Tigers up at half time 26-11.

In the second quarter, the Panther offense got good penetration and space to shoot, but couldn’t find the net.

“Everyone played well in the second, but we have to have that attitude the whole game,” Panther coach Josh Sandlian said. “It was tough to battle man-to-man against their (Encampment) big guys. They have lots of height and they are strong players.”

Coming out of the locker room, Encampment carried their momentum into the second half.

Head coach of the Tigers Dan Kraft said at the beginning of the second half, “We have to continue playing defense. We need good rebounding and have to make good shots.”

In the second half, the shots continued to miss the mark for the Panthers, and players on both teams got into foul trouble.

Daniel Kerbs tried to light the fire for Saratoga late in the third quarter with an important 3-point shot, and continued to try to spark comeback efforts with a late game steal that he converted into 2 points.

Saratoga had two of their big men foul out in the fourth, and the Panthers were down by eleven mid way through the quarter.

“We tried to rotate our guys late in the game to get our three point shooters on the floor but it just didn’t work out,” coach Josh Sandlian said. “It’s tough to come back when our guys fouled out and their guys were going to the line.”

Encampment held their initial lead the whole game, and came out on top 50-33.

Saratoga will play in the Fremont Holiday tournament Thursday and Friday in Ethete, and the Tigers will be off until Jan. 5 when Hanna-Elk Mountain-Medicine Bow comes to town.