Tiger boys hold on for win over Trego Eagles

The Stockton Tigers jumped out to an early lead against the visiting Trego Eagles, but had to hold on down the stretch to pull out the 44-40 win in Mid-Continent League boys action last Tuesday at Tiger Gymnasium. On the girls side, it was the Trego Lady Eagles who dominated from the start and went on to win 71-28.

Tiger Boys vs. Trego

The Stockton Tigers’ big first half ended up being enough as they held off the Trego Eagles to claim the 44-40 victory.

Josh Coleman scored the first points of the game on a trey to give the Tigers a 3-0 lead. Ethan Means would add a basket and two free throws, Quinn Coffey made two shots, and Trevor Miller added one to put Stockton up 13-0 after the first quarter.

Trego finally got on the scoreboard early in the second period when Owen Day hit a three-pointer, but the Tigers’ defense continued to make it tough for their opponents, and Stockton went in at halftime up 23-5.

Troy Rogers opened the second half with a trey to push the Tigers’ lead to 26-5 at the 5:54 mark of the third, but Carter Minson answered by making three free throws just seconds later. With 2:29 left in the quarter Stockton still owned a 29-12 advantage, but a minute later the momentum began to swing.

In the final 1:36 of the third period, Minson drained four shots from behind the arc to pull the Eagles within seven, 31-24, going into the final eight minutes.

A minute and a half into the fourth quarter Trego was able to cut the margin to four, 32-28, on a basket by Minson, but back-to-back buckets by Coleman and Coffey regained a 36-28 lead for the Tigers.

With the exception of two treys, one by Kobi Shubert and the other by Minson, the final five minutes was a free throw battle. During that time the Tigers went 6 of 12 from the charity stripe, while Trego managed to make 6 of 8. A free throw by Coleman with only 32 seconds remaining gave Stockton a 41-35 lead, but with 14 seconds to go in the contest Shubert hit a threepointer for the Eagles to cut the difference to three, 41-38.

A couple seconds later the Tigers would miss two free throws, with Trego getting the rebound. Down by only three points, Minson, who had drained five treys during the second half of the game, attempted a three pointer with only two seconds on the clock. Although he missed the shot, he was fouled and sent to the free throw line for a chance to tie the game. After making his first two attempts, Minson missed the last one and Gage Conyac got fouled on the rebound.

Conyac ended up missing his first attempt, but made the second one to put Stockton up 42-40. When the Eagles got the ball out of bounds, an errant pass down the court went untouched and Stockton got the ball one more time under its own basket. As time ran out, Coffey scored on the inbounds play, giving the Tigers the hard-fought 44-40 victory. With the win, Stockton improved to 9-8 on the season.

Trevor Miller led the Tigers in scoring with 11 points, nine of them coming from free throws. Ethan Means added 10 points.

Carter Minson, with a game-high 24 points, was the only player in double figures for Trego.

Lady Tigers vs. Trego

The Stockton Lady Tigers got behind early against the Trego Lady Eagles, who have just one loss on the season, and could never recover. The Lady Tigers spotted Trego 17 points before Shae Griffin made a basket at the 2:31 mark of the opening quarter which put Stockton on the board, 17-2. As the period came to a close, the Lady Eagles’ Gracie Pfannenstiel hit a basket which gave Trego a 22-2 lead going into the second quarter.

Olivia Dix was the only one with the hot hand for the Lady Tigers as she was able to score 11 of her 15 points in the second period, but it wasn’t enough. The Lady Eagles ended up outscoring Stockton 22-15 in the second to lead 44-17 at the intermission.

By the end of the third quarter the Lady Tigers were facing a 65-23 deficit, and they would go on to lose 71-28 to fall to 6-11 on the season.

Olivia Dix led Stockton in scoring with 15 points, while Shae Griffin added 11.

Trego was led by Lily Shubert with a game-high 22 points, including four treys. Gracie Pfannenstiel added 12.