The breaks didn't go Wood River's way Tuesday night during a tantalizingly close Great Basin Conference West boys' basketball tournament game in the Tiger den of Jerome.
Three tough officiating calls went against Wood River in the final three minutes. Each time, opportunistic Jerome came down and scored, then the top-seeded Tigers made 7-of-8 free throws down the stretch to win 42-35.
It was another nailbiter for Jerome (13-8), still unbeaten with seven wins in league play. Coach Houston Finn's Tigers are 9-5 in games settled by 10 points or fewer—and have won eight of their last nine close contests.
As he's done all season, senior guard Brady Femling (12.3 ppg) led Wood River with 14 points, 5 rebounds, 3 steals and 2 assists. He's been the team's leading scorer in 15 of 21 games. Senior Reno Christino (7.2 ppg) added 7 points and 5 rebounds.
It was a tough loss for coach Fred Trenkle's fourth-seeded Wolverines (2-19). They had been playing their best basketball of the season entering the four-team tournament and were poised to win their first road game after 10 losses and to pull a major upset.
Wood River, losers of eight straight games, dropped to the loser bracket for Thursday's elimination game against the #3-seeded Minico Spartans (8-13) at Rupert. Second-seeded Burley (11-9) outscored Minico 45-34 Tuesday and visited Jerome Thursday on the winner's side of the bracket.
The winner of Thursday's Wood River-Minico game will travel to the loser of Thursday's Jerome-Burley contest for a loser-out affair Saturday, Feb. 19. Championship game is set for Monday, Feb. 21 to settle the region's only automatic berth to the State 4A tournament March 3 in Caldwell.
All the pressure was on Jerome Tuesday night, but the Tigers jumped out to their biggest lead, 16-7 at the break. Capitalizing on six Jerome turnovers in the second quarter, in large part because of point guard Conrad Lee's foul problems, Wood River fought back with an 8-0 run and trailed only 20-19 at intermission.
Once again, Wood River's defense was terrific in keeping the game within reach. The Tigers didn't score for the first 5:25 of the second quarter, the first 2:02 of the third and the first 2:20 of the fourth. Jerome scored only seven field goals in the final three periods and its offense was out of sync.
Femling's pull-up jumper in the paint gave Wood River only its third lead of the game, 29-28, early in the fourth. Two free throws by Corbin Miniard (5 points) made it 31-28. Wood River's offense was patient, and its switching defense was ferocious.
Then, an official blew an extremely-quick five-second call on point guard Morgan Uhrig and within seconds, Jerome senior Chance Craig (16 points, 5 assists) was rolling down the floor, drilling a 3-pointer for a 33-31 Jerome lead. Christino tied it, underneath from Uhrig, with 2:37 to play.
Two more questionable calls or non-calls riled coach Trenkle even more. Jerome kept its cool and capitalized—Jared Harrison (8 points) sinking a jump hook after a Craig pass, and Lee making two charities for a 37-33 Tiger lead on a collision out front that could have easily been called a charge.
Other contributors for Wood River were Uhrig (6 points, 2 steals, 3 assists) and Dylan Fullmer (3 points, 3 boards, 4 assists). Characteristically, Jerome put seven players in the scoring column topped by Craig and Harrison. Lee finished with 5 points.
