On Friday, December 16, the Tigers traveled north to Perry to take on the Blue Jays. The ADM Tigers are starting to pick up the pace on both defense and offense, scoring more than twice their opponents’ points last Tuesday. One spot all year that the Tigers have struggled is in the paint. The Tigers have been inconsistent and with the Blue Jays leading scorer being their post, Janier Puente was looking to have a big game. The Tigers are playing with their “Big Three” for the first time since Ballard and wanting to get another conference win under their belt.

At the beginning of the game, the Blue Jays were dominating the paint. The Tigers tried to find a stop to Puente but just couldn’t find one. The Tigers tried many different defenders but nobody could match him.  The only way to stop them was to match them on the other end. Tajen Ross, who finished with a team-high 20 points, was taking it to the hoop drive after drive and forcing many fouls. The Tigers had lots of troubles breaking Perry’s zone defense and struggled to get open shots. Somehow the Tigers finished ahead at the half even though it looked like Perry was dominating the beginning of the game.  At the end of the half, the Tigers were on top 29-26.

The second half was a whole different story.

The Tigers couldn’t get anything going to on offense. Losing Jared Sapp with a broken hand earlier this week in practice really hurt the offense tonight.  The Tigers were ice cold and nothing was falling, and when it rains it pours. They were forcing passes and shots that did not need to be forced.

On the other side of the ball, Puente was dominating, have a game high 32 points and scoring more than half of the Blue Jays points. When the Blue Jays needed a basket, they just fed him. It got ugly toward the end of the game as the Blue Jays got the win over the Tigers 62-39.

The story for the 2-3 Tigers has been down low on both sides of the ball. Not having anyone to size up down low is a killer. On the other hand, the also Tigers seem to struggle trying to find some to score down low for them. Typical fastbreak points and forcing shots by Ross, Payton Conrad and Matthew Larson is getting way too easy for other teams to defend. The Tigers look to improve as they travel to Gilbert tomorrow to take on the Gilbert Tigers in a Saturday game.