The excitement was high and the energy was abundant for last night’s game between the ADM Tiger boys basketball team and the Carlisle Wildcat boys basketball team in the first meeting of the season between these two teams.
Head coach Aaron Mager and his team were in the hunt to grab their third straight win in a row and their third straight victory against Carlisle dating back to last season. The first half started off strong for the Tigers but unfortunately from there, it would be a tale of two halves as a surging Wildcat team combined with ADM’s cold shooting second half that would be the downfall for the hometown team loosing 73-69. The first quarter was perhaps the strongest quarter for ADM who went 7/14 from field goal range while connecting of 3 of 7 from beyond the arc. All was seeming well for ADM as they entered the halftime intermission up 33-31, but has been the case when the Tigers have had a halftime lead of three points or less, the overall outcome would not be desirable.
The third quarter saw a resurgence from a quiet Carlisle offense and after a back and fourth bout, the crowd saw the Wildcats earn a 52-51 lead heading into the fourth quarter. That would be followed up by a rather high scoring fourth quarter but unfortunately for ADM, Carlisle would acquire a six point lead late in the fourth and the Tigers just couldn’t manage to put enough points together as they would drop the game. The Tigers faltered from the free throw line going 8 of 15 in the fourth quarter.
Tajen Ross put in a solid game to lead the Tigers for the 7th time this season accounting for 25 total points. He was followed up by Cole Knoll who had a game 13 points on the night to go along with 6 rebounds.
The Tigers have to turn it around for their next match up on Friday as they welcome in the top team in Raccoon River Conference play in the Boone Toreadors with a mark of 4-1. ADM looks to continue off of their two game winning streak against the Toreadors from last season when they cap off the conference double header Friday night with tip off at 7:30 pm.