Tigers’ Basketball
L-K at Waskom
Basketball has gotten off to a quick start at Linden-Kildare. The Tigers opened up the season traveling to Waskom to take on those Wildcats Nov. 22.
The JV Tigers played well in spurts, scrapped all night long and had a chance to take the victory late in the fourth quarter but the chance slipped away with Waskom taking the win 35-32. The varsity game faired a little better for the Tigers. L-K got off to a fast start leading by six at the end of the first quarter.
The Tigers took a double digit lead into the half at, 28-16. The Wildcats wouldn’t go away. They fought and scrapped to shave the lead to five at some point during the third quarter but after that, the Tigers pulled away and were never really threatened down the stretch winning by a final score of, 58-40.
L-K at Hooks
Nov. 25, L-K visited Hooks to take on the Hornets. The JV got off to a slow start and fell behind by double digits at the end of the first. The Hornet lead would grow to 15 at the half. The Tigers picked up the energy but were forced into some costly turnovers and failed to capitalize on multiple opportunities to close the deficit. L-K played hard until the last whistle but unfortunately, still came up short by a score of, 43-32.
The JV Tigers were led in scoring by Tawin Patterson with 11 and Jonathan Owen with nine. The varsity Tigers were involved in a nail biter of a game against a much longer, deeper and physical Hooks’ team. The Tigers got out quickly again, leading 14-12 at the end of the first and 26-20 at half.
The third quarter would get a little tighter with Hooks tying the score on multiple occasions before L-K nudged ahead by the score of, 42-39, at quarter’s end.
In the fourth quarter, the Tigers faced a bit of adversity when forward Jordan Swanson committed his fifth foul and was forced to sit the remaining three minutes.
With a six point lead, the Tigers struggled in the last minute allowing the Hornets to tighten the score and with a late inbounds play, they would knot it up at the end of regulation at 52-all. It would take overtime to settle the score.
In overtime, the Tigers fell behind quickly but soon after, committed themselves to lock in on defense.
The Tigers were able to pull even and then take the lead. Puff Peters was big in overtime rebounding and scoring. The Tigers were able to come away with a, 66-61, win.
Peters had nine of his team high 17 in the OT. Chase Bynum shot the ball well from the perimeter pouring in 14, Jordan Swanson provided a post presence offensively and defensively with 12 points. Red Tyson had a scrappy performance with 11, mostly off of broken plays and miss shot follow-up amongst taller players. Tay Johnson who was great controlling the flow of the game chipped in eight. The Tigers’ scoring was rounded off by Mason Johnson’s three points and Nate “Hammer” Holloway scored one. One of the Tigers’ biggest differences was capitalizing at the charity stripe. The Tigers shot 70 percent (7/10) compared to the Hornets 39 percent (7/18).
L-K vs. Avinger
Dec. 3, the Tigers had its home opener vs. Avinger. The night started slowly for the home team, only scoring eight points while Avinger put up 11. In the second quarter, the Tigers found a groove offensively by putting up 20 points but still found themselves trailing by one at the halfway point.
In the third quarter, the Tigers pushed ahead and stretched the lead out to their largest lead of, 50-38. The Tigers closed the game out with key baskets by Jordan Swanson in the fourth quarter to sustain Avinger’s furious run.
Swanson led all scorers with 18 off the bench, Red Tyson poured in 15 and Tay Johnson added 10.
The Tigers received significant bench contributions from Mason Johnson, five points, and Puff Peters as well.
Hughes Springs Tournament
The Tigers played in the Hughes Springs Tournament Dec. 5-7, and dominated throughout.
L-K went over to Hughes Springs to compete in the Mustangs’ tournament.
The Tigers came away with two tough, hard-fought victories, beating the same Avinger bunch, this time in a tighter affair, 51-46. The Tigers performed much better on defense, but struggled to sink the ball in the hoop.
The scoring was led by Tay Johnson with 14, Tyson had 11, Swanson added 10 and Chase Bynem and Peters both finished with eight.
In the nightcap, the Tigers took on the Ore City Rebels. L-K jumped out to a, 16-6, lead in the first quarter and then led at the break, 22-17. Midway through the third quarter, the Rebels took a 4-point lead, 33-29. The Tigers put the clamps on at this point and were able to regain the lead by five only to allow the Rebels to tie the game up at 56-all.
Tay Johnson was fouled and went to the stripe and knocked down two huge free-throws with 6.1 seconds left in the game.
After a time out, an Ore City player was fouled with 0.7 seconds, but the Rebel stepped to the line and was only to convert on 1-of-2. The Tigers were able to squeak out a, 58-57, victory.
Tay Johnson led L-K scorers with 20 followed by 14 from Red Tyson and 12 by Puff Peters.