Tiger Boys pick up two wins last week

Last week was a successful one for the Stockton Tigers as the boys picked up two wins to improve their record to 3-3 on the season. On Tuesday, the 7th, Stockton was victorious at home over Golden Plains by the score of 61-35, and on Friday the Tigers defeated Nortonon the road 40-36 in a Mid-Continent League matchup.

The Lady Tigers didn’t have the same luck, however, as they fell to Golden Plains 49-37, and to Norton, 61-21. With the losses, their record now stands at 3-3 on the season.

This week the Tiger teams were in Victoria on Tuesday, and they will be on the road to Oakley on Thursday with games starting at 3:45 p.m. Saturday marks the start of the MCL Basketball Tournament, with play-in games to be held in Stockton. Tournament play will continue on Monday, the 20th, with first round girls games being played at the site of the higher seed. The boys’ first round contests will be played on Tuesday. Backside games will be held in Stockton on Thursday, and the semifinals and finals of the MCL Tournament will be held in Plainville on Friday and Saturday.

Stockton will get back to its regular season games on Tuesday, January 28 when they hit the road to Almena to take on Northern Valley.

Lady Tigers vs. Golden Plains

The Stockton Lady Tigers were defeated by Golden Plains last Tuesday by the score of 49-37, but the game was actually much closer than the final score indicated.

Stockton trailed 10-8 after the first quarter, and following an offensive put-back by the Bulldogs’ Carli Nieman to open the second period, the Lady Tigers were down 12-8. With 2:29 to go in the first half, Stockton had tied the game at 14-all, thanks to two treys by Shae Griffin. Another offensive put-back by Golden Plains regained a 16-14 lead for the Bulldogs, but over the final two minutes of the half, Stockton, playing good man-to-man defense, went on a 5-0 run to take a 19-16 advantage into the locker room at halftime. Scoring the five points for the Lady Tigers were Ellie Bellerive and Griffin with a basket each, and Chloe Plumer with a free throw.

Stockton pushed its lead to 22-16 two minutes into the third quarter when Griffin sank a trey from the baseline, and a minute later the home team was still up 24-18. The Lady Tigers owned their largest lead of the game, 28-20, at the 4:07 mark of the third, following back-to-back baskets by Plumer and Bellerive. Unfortunately, Golden Plains would go on a 13-0 run to finish out the period and led 33-28 going into the final eight minutes.

The Bulldogs scored to open the fourth period to go up by seven, 35-28, but with 3:38 left in the game Stockton had fought back to within five, 39-34, with the Lady Tigers’ six points coming from Griffin. Tatum Hamilton’s basket at the 3:24 mark of the final quarter pulled Stockton within three points, 39-36, but Golden Plains would finish the game on a 10-1 run to capture the 49-37 win.

Shae Griffin scored a game-high 20 points to lead the Lady Tigers in scoring.

Golden Plains, who is undefeated on the season, had three players in double figures, led by Kassie Miller’s 14 points. Ashley Stoll and Brooke Stoll added 13 and 11 points, respectively.

Tiger Boys vs. Golden

Plains

The Stockton boys jumped out to an early 5-0 lead in their game with Golden Plains, and never looked back. By the end of the first quarter, six Tiger players had put points on the scoreboard to give Stockton a 20-3 lead going into the second period. Those scoring were Ethan Means with four baskets, Troy Rogers and Kameran Hamel with a trey apiece, and Trevor Miller, Gage Conyac and Quinn Coffey with a basket each.

Another bucket by Means at the 5:41 mark of the second gave the Tigers a 20-point advantage (24-4). With 2:37 to go in the first half Ben Rogers made a shot which made the score 34-12 in favor of Stockton, and at the intermission the Tigers’ lead was 34-19.

Jace Hull opened the third quarter with a trey to push Stockton’s lead to 37-19, and with 3:10 left in the third the Tigers were up 44-21 on baskets by Conyac and Troy Rogers, and a trey by Trevor Miller.

The Bulldogs made a small run to get back within 16 points late in the third period, but a three-pointer by Josh Coleman gave Stockton a 47-28 going into the fourth quarter, and the Tigers went on to win 61-35.

Ethan Means led nine Stockton scorers with 16 points. Trevor Miller added 10.

Golden Plains was led by Wade Rush with a game-high 18 points. Harley Weese added 13.

Lady Tigers vs. Norton

Thursday night’s game with Norton is one the Lady Tigers would just as soon forget. Stockton struggled in all facets of the game and ended up falling to the Lady Bluejays by the score of 61-21.

Norton jumped out to a 7-0 start with the Lady Tigers’ first basket finally coming at the 4:37 mark of the opening period by Olivia Dix. By the end of the first quarter Stockton was down 16-6, and the Lady Bluejays would push the lead to 22-6 before two free throws by Dix gave the Lady Tigers their first points of the second period. Dix finished out the first half scoring four more points, making the score at the intermission 24-12 in favor of Norton.

Two free throws by Shae Griffin to open the third quarter got Stockton back within 10, 24-14, but Norton would go on a 20-2 run, with Courtney Jones scoring seven of those points for the Lady Jays, to take a 44-16 advantage into the final eight minutes.

The mercy rule went into effect just seconds into the fourth quarter as the Lady Tigers went on to fall 61-21. Stockton’s only points in the fourth period came on two free throws by Dix and a trey by Macy Odle as time ran out.

Olivia Dix, a sophomore, scored 14 of the Lady Tigers’ 21 points, going 8 for 8 from the charity stripe.

Norton, who only has one senior on the team, was led by juniors Addison Brooks with 15 points, Tessa Hauser and Courtney Jones with 13 points each, and Hannah Bailey with 10 points.

Tiger Boys vs. Norton

Trailing by three going into the final period, the Stockton Tigers used a 15-point fourth quarter, by draining three shots from behind the arc and sinking 6 of 8 free throws, to capture an exciting 40-36 win over Norton on Thursday.

Stockton trailed the Bluejays 8-4 after the first quarter, but a 9-0 run by the Tigers to open the second period put Stockton up 13-8 with 3:06 to go in the first half. Scoring those nine points for the Tigers were Ethan Means with a trey and a basket, and Quinn Coffey and Troy Rogers with a basket each.

Norton’s Ryan Schrum sank a three-pointer to put an end to Stockton’s run, but with 2:28 to go in the second quarter Josh Coleman answered for the Tigers with a trey of his own to regain a 16-11 advantage. Once again, however, the Bluejays cut the difference to two when Carter Jones sank a three-pointer to make the score 16-14, and Christien Hawks’ late free throw got Norton within one, 16-15, by the intermission.

Back-to-back shots by Kade Melvin to open the third period gave the Blue-jays their first lead (19-16) since early in the second quarter. Gage Conyac scored for Stockton to get back within one, 19-18, but another trey by Jones pushed Norton’s lead to 22-18. The Tigers stayed close until the 4:52 mark of the third when Jace Hull’s three-pointer tied the game at 23-all.

Neither team was able to score for the next two and a half minutes, but the Bluejays’ Connor Hares-nape finally broke the cold streak by hitting a trey to give Norton a 26-23 lead. Troy Rogers made a shot with just under a minute left in the third to get Stockton back within one, 26-25, but an offensive put-back by Dante Smith would increase the Bluejays’ lead to 28-25 going into fourth period.

The Tigers hit three treys, one each by Trevor Miller, Josh Coleman and Ben Rogers, to open the fourth quarter and take a 34-28 advantage with 4:42 left to play. Thirty seconds later Melvin made a shot for Norton to cut the margin to four, 34-30.

The Tigers were still up 34-30 with under two minutes remaining, and after Josh Coleman sank two free throws Stockton pushed the lead to 36-30 with 1:14 to go. Just nine seconds later, Schrum hit a trey for the Bluejays to pull back to within three, 36-33, but another free throw by Coleman would make the score 37-33 with 1:01 remaining.

With just 25 seconds left to play, Norton had the ball and got off a shot, but following the miss, Ethan Means was fouled and he stepped up and made both free throws to put the Tigers back up by six, 39-33 with 19 seconds left on the clock. A conventional three-point play by Schrum with 13 seconds to go made the score 39-36, but again Coleman answered with a free throw a second later, and the Tigers would hold on for the 40-36 win.

Ethan Means and Josh Coleman led Stockton in scoring with 11 and 10 points respectively.

Norton’s Ryan Schrum led the Bluejays with a game-high 14 points.