Tigers top Panthers with strong finish

The Encampment Tigers (7-1) played hot in the second and fourth quarters to get ahead of the Saratoga Panthers (1-5) Friday night at the Saratoga gym.

"A loss is tough to swallow, especially to a rivalry. But, there were a lot of good things that happened in the game," Saratoga's head coach Jason Williams said. "It's kind of like playing your brother in one-on-one. You hate to lose to him, but if you are going to lose to somebody, that's not always the worst thing."

"We played them close for about three quarters. It was pretty back and forth. Then we let things get away from us in the fourth quarter," Williams said.

The first quarter ended with the Tigers ahead by 1 point at 12-11. In the second quarter, the Tigers outscored the Panthers going into half time with a score of 34-29.

In the third quarter, the Panthers played a solid game and each team scored 13 points, ending with 47-42.

Williams thought his guards played as well as they have all year, but noted that the teams still needs to work on a few things.

The Tigers had a 13-point run that put them ahead of the Panthers 61-45. The Panthers only scored 9 points after that run, with the Tigers scoring 10.

"This was probably our best game of the year so far with four guys in double figures and KeeGan Johnson and Guy Erickson both posting a double-double," Encampment head coach Clint Bromley said.

In a packed gym, the boys' game had Panther fans roaring when Aaron Kerbs made a 3-pointer at the beginning of the fourth quarter, followed by Guy Erickson raising the Tiger crowd to their feet with his return 3-pointer.

The Panthers went on to score two more 3-pointers, but it was not enough to close the 17 point lead.

"We executed the offense the best that we have all season and played a solid defense," Bromley said.

"Saratoga was on fire from the 3-point line cashing in 9, 3's," Bromley added. "That will have to be a focus of the defense before our next meeting in two weeks."

Williams said his team will be working on rebounding and defense. He noted that the team was a little slower on some of their zone defense shifts then he would like to see and he believes that got them into trouble.

Tiger guard Guy Erickson scored 20 points with 10 rebounds, four assists and two steals. KeeGan Johnson scored 17 points with 11 rebounds, two assists and one steal. Gage Bartlett scored 11 points, five rebounds, two assists and three steals.

Jared Stewart had 10 points seven rebounds and six assists.

William said he thought the Tigers did a good job of limiting Jace Berger. The Saratoga coach said he was proud of the rest of the Panther team for stepping up and not relying solely on Berger and his offensive prowess.

The Panthers looked comfortable from the 3-point line, scoring 27 of their 54 points from 3-point range. "We shot really well, and I'm happy with that," Williams said. He said while practice focuses on all kinds of types of shooting, he encourages the boys to "fire away" if they are open on the perimeter.

"I told the boys in the locker room afterwards that we are close to having a breakthrough," Williams said. He added that if they can improve rebounding and defensive speed, the Panthers will be a dangerous team.

Cameron Lehr was the high scorer for Saratoga with 19 points and eight rebounds. Lehr also had two assists. Rodrigo Escobedo scored 12 points, had three rebounds and five assists.

Aaron Kerbs scored 9 points. Jace Berger scored 8 points and had seven rebounds. Morgan Rempel added 4 points and had three rebounds. Darian Williams, who suffered a concussion before the winter break scored 2 points.

The Panthers will play Burns on Friday and Pine Bluffs on Saturday. Williams just got a tape of Burns and will be pouring over it this week. "I know that Burns is a game that is definitely winnable for us," Williams said. Burns is their first conference game of the season.

Pine Bluffs is ranked fifth in the state and they have an all-state forward, junior Hunter Thompson, who is 6 feet 10 inches. "It is going to be a challenge to contain him, but I'm looking forward to that too," Williams said.

Saratoga hosts Burns at 3:30 p.m., beginning with junior varsity. The girls play at 5 p.m., and the varsity boys tip off at 6:30 p.m.

Saturday, the Panthers play in Pine Bluffs with game time beginning at noon for junior varsity. At 1:30 p.m., the girls play and the boys play at 3 p.m.

On Jan. 19, the Saratoga team travels to Hanna to play Hanna-Elk-Mountain-Medicine Bow beginning at 4:30 p.m., in the Miner gym.