Junior Jared Stewart goes for 2 points against Farson/Eden Friday night. The Tigers came back after a rough first half, but rallied in the second half to win 61-46. Saturday, the Tigers continued their winning streak by beating the Cokeville Panthers 59-45.
The Encampment Tigers (3-2, 1A Southwest; 16-3 overall) swept homecoming with two wins against the Farson/Eden Pronghorns (0-5, 1A Southwest; 7-11 overall) and the Cokeville Panthers (2-3, 1A Southwest; 13-7 overall).
With the win against the Panthers, the Tigers and Cokeville Panthers are tied for second and third place in the conference, Tigers head coach Clint Bromley said. If the placings stay the same after this weekend, a coin-toss will determine their seed entering into regionals in two weeks.
Friday, the team faces top seed Little Snake River Valley at home. Even with a win against the Rattlers, it won't make much difference in the placings, Bromley said. Even so, he would like to see a win for the Tigers so that his team proves they can play a team of the Rattlers' caliber.
The Encampment Tigers had a 7-point lead early in the first quarter before the Farson/Eden Pronghorns stepped up their defense and successfully blocked the Tigers looks at the bucket. With less than three minutes in the first quarter, the Pronghorns had tied the score at 12. Gage Bartlett was going in for a fast break layup when he was fouled by Pronghorns Isaac Orozco. Bartlett scored at the line, but the Pronghorns scored to make it a 1-point game at the end of the first quarter 15-14.
The Tigers made several attempts at the bucket, but could not get the ball to sink. Meanwhile, the Pronghorns were finding success on the back court.
The Pronghorns kept the Tigers shut out for half of the second quarter before Brett Ralston finally got a chance to score. The Tigers were trailing 26-17.
The Tigers were starting to figure out how to drive past the Pronghorn defense with Guy Erickson forcing his way through to score. KeeGan Johnson ended the half with a bucket, but the Tigers were still behind 26-32.
During halftime, Bromley told the Tigers they were a better ball team and that they were not out of the game. Bromley blamed himself also - "They didn't play well, but I didn't coach well."
In the third quarter, it appeared the Tigers were still struggling and when they were down by 10, Bromley called a timeout.
Whatever Bromley said to the players lit a fire and the Tigers turned up their game and with 45 seconds left in the third quarter, the Tigers had tied the score at 40.
"Guy took a real leadership role and got them calmed down," Bromley said.
Harold Jackson put the Tigers in the lead for the first time since the first quarter with a shot from the arc and the third quarter ended 43-40.
The fourth quarter, the Tigers were on fire as they lit up the net with an impressive 18 points outscoring the Pronghorns three to one. Erickson led the drive with a 3-pointer. The Pronghorns aggressive defense ended up hurting them, as the Tigers would score at the line.
The Tigers domination of the second half earned them a win 61-46. "Encampment trailed at half, but came out and put together a great second half scoring 17 in the third and 18 in the fourth while holding Farson to 8 and 6 points," Bromley said.
Erickson scored 20 points with 100 percent at the line. Erickson also had seven rebounds.
Harold Jackson scored 13 points and had seven steals and Luke Pantle had 9 points, five rebounds, four steals and three assists.
The Tigers were still on fire when they played Cokeville Saturday and gave quite an impressive performance in front of the home-town fans.
With the first quarter ending 18-10, the Tigers were like a well-oiled machine with their inside game.
The Tigers maintained the lead and by the half were ahead by 10, 34-24.
In the third quarter, the Tigers continued to outshoot the Cokeville Panthers with a 50-33 lead. Brett Ralston hit a 3-pointer as the third quarter buzzer sounded.
In the fourth quarter, the Panthers picked up their offense, but couldn't catch up to the Tigers.
The Tigers outscored the Panthers in three of the four quarters to capture the win 59-45.
"Encampment scoring was distributed among the team fairly evenly with everyone getting involved in the offense," Bromely said. "The team also came out and played a strong defense on a very well coached team to claim the victory.
Pantle scored 17 points, grabbed eight rebounds and had three assists against Cokeville, with Jared Stewart getting 12 points and seven rebounds. Erickson had 11 points, seven rebounds and three assists. Brett Ralston scored 9 points and Johnson had 8 points.
The Encampment Tigers host the Rattlers beginning at 4 p.m. This is the last home game before regionals.
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