For the week of December 11 - 17, 2002

Hailey boys show 
some progress

But need to play four quarters

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The fourth quarter proved to be the undoing for the Wood River High School boys’ varsity basketball team in its two season-opening games last week.

Glenns Ferry out-rebounded the host Wolverines 17-5 and outscored Wood River 23-8 in the fourth quarter Thursday, as the Pilots broke open a close game and breezed 64-51.

Jorge Giribet-Canto, Wood River point guard, shoots over Zach Simons of Glenns Ferry during Thursday’s Hailey home debut. Express photo by David N. Seelig

 

Saturday night, Wood River led for 29 minutes in its upset bid at Jerome. But the 4A Tigers out-pointed the 3A Wolverines 16-1 in the fourth period and went on to win 52-42.

Wolverine coach Jeff Larson said, "We played two very good quarters against Glenns Ferry. And we played a very good basketball game for three-and-a-half quarters at Jerome.

"We need to get comfortable in the fourth quarter, play our game and finish. We tightened up and didn’t take advantage of the opportunities we had in our games last week."

Jason Hofman was the star of Thursday’s home opener. He scored 17 points with 9 rebounds and 4 blocked shots. Hofman had back-to-back slam dunks in the third when Wood River went on a 11-2 run and rallied for a 37-32 lead.

Refugio Regalado had 6 points, 5 rebounds and 3 assists; Jorge Giribet-Canto 8 points and 2 steals; Riley Neff 6 points and 3 boards; Tory Haavik 6 points, 2 steals and 2 assists; and Paul Tinker and Luis Ruiz 2 steals apiece.

The Wolverines did very well in the middle quarters, out-rebounding the Pilots 20-8. But Wood River couldn’t stop Pilots stud Zach Simons, who tallied 9 of his game-high 22 points in the fourth period.

Hofman, Wood River’s 6-7 junior post, was a non-factor with early foul troubles at Jerome. But point guard Giribet-Canto had a good game with 17 points including two of Wood River’s five 3-pointers.

Regalado added 10 points, Haavik 5, Max Dieffenbach 4, Brian Ward 3 and Tinker 2.

Larson said, "The kids were nervous against Glenns Ferry, but we settled down against Jerome. Our biggest problem at Jerome was no inside game."

But the coach is encouraged. He said this year’s team is light years ahead of last year’s squad, outscored on the average by 24 points a game.

"Our biggest positive points are intensity and attitude," said Larson.

The Wolverine junior varsity offered more positive signs with an all-around team effort in a 58-41 home win over Glenns Ferry Thursday night.

 

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