Tigers maul Miners

The Encampment Tigers mauled the Hanna-Elk Mountain-Medicine Bow Miners Friday night at their home court with a score of 60-46.

The Tigers and Miners kept pace with each other through most of the first quarter, before the Tigers started to outscore the Miners.

It was a good game for Guy Erickson, who hit most of his 3-pointers, and Luke Pantle led on the inside scoring and made some 3-pointers of his own.

Early in the second quarter the Tigers had a 9-point lead and kept the lead through the end of the first half with a score of 33-23.

In the third quarter the Tigers kept dominating the Miners, and at the end of the third, Erickson attempted a basket with HEM's Quade Palm fouling him. Erickson's free throws ended the third quarter 52-35.

HEM outscored the Tigers in the fourth quarter, but it was not enough to close the gap and the Tigers won 60-46.

Head coach Clint Bromley said he was happy to get several scorers on the board during Friday's game against the Miners.

"We had some new faces step up and play well for us tonight, with Brett Miller putting in 13 and Jared Stewart putting in 6, along with Guy Erickson's 25 and Luke Pantle's 14," he said. "It is nice to get more players involved in the scoring and gives us another dimension to our offense."

Bromley also praised the boys for their neck-and-neck Feb. 11 game against North Park, which the Tigers won 53-50. Encampment secured its win after a failed three-point shot from Wildcat Will Hutchins, which came with less than eight seconds left in the game.

Luke Pantle led the way in that battle with 21 points, and coming up behind were Guy Erickson (11), Jared Stewart (10), Harold Jackson (5), Brett Miller (3) and KeeGan Johnson (3).

"We're definitely happy with the outcome, and that some more kids stepped up tonight and didn't put the whole scoring load on Luke and Guy," Bromley said. "Some other guys stepped up there, and that's kind of what we need out of them for the rest of the year. I think it was Jared's best game of the season, and KeeGan came in and played a role that we need him to play. We're going to see a lot more of him in years to come, too."

Encampment now stands at 15-5 overall and 4-3 for conference, and as of last week the Tigers ranked third in the 1A Southwest Conference. Bromley said the next game against Little Snake River's Rattlers, who are first in the 1A Southwest Conference, will determine if the Tigers play in regionals or not.

"With Little Snake River losing to Cokeville, it also gives us an opportunity to play up in the conference if we can get a win next week," he said. "That puts a whole new spin on the importance of next week's practice."

The Tigers' last game before regionals is at 3 p.m. Friday in Baggs, where they will face off against Little Snake River for a second time this season.