Loaded with nine seniors and averaging 60 points per game, the Jerome Tigers were having a heckuva time scoring anything against the fast-shifting Wood River Wolverine zone defense until the second half of Friday's Great Basin Conference West clash, at Jerome.
Wood River had beaten Jerome soundly 62-55 in Hailey Jan. 4 in a game that wasn't even that close. A more athletic and better shooting team than Wood River, Jerome just couldn't get its outside attack in gear.
In Friday's pivotal league contest, host Jerome managed five points in the entire first quarter before six Wolverine turnovers in the second opened the door a crack and Jerome cut its halftime deficit to 14-13.
That's when Jerome did what any decent boys' basketball team has to do when scoring is scarce. The Tigers turned up the defensive heat. They made a commitment to tough man-to-man defense and a press that threw cold-shooting Wood River off its patient half-court offensive game.
Defense fueled Jerome's offense.
Jerome, led by 6-0 senior Zack Dietz (18 points, 3 boards), started finding the seams in Wood River's zone and attacking the basket. The Tigers opened the second half with an 11-0 run and used balanced scoring to hold off Wood River 48-41.
The Tigers (12-5, 3-2 league) won for the seventh time in eight games and improved their homecourt record to 7-2. Wood River (8-9, 1-4 league) saw its last hope slip away for one of the top seeds in the upcoming Great Basin West tournament and a home game for the opening round.
Coach Fred Trenkle's Wolverines, averaging 47.5 ppg for the season but only 41.5 ppg in the last four games, found it difficult to penetrate Jerome's defense and get their post attack going. Credit the defense of 6-1 senior Troy Tolman, who hounded 5-8 senior point Morgan Uhrig.
Wood River got only four points out of its big men—from Erik Jacobson—and went to the free throw line only four times. Once again, the only consistent scorer was junior wing Cory Rutkowski (9.8 ppg), the team's top scorer who has scored in double digits in 11 of the last 12 games.
Rutkowski (13 points including three 3-pointers, 8 rebounds, 2 steals, 4 assists) topped Wood River in every department. Jesse Stark exploded late in the game with 7 of his 9 points, turning a 48-33 laugher into a relatively close final score.
Others were Cooper McCroskey (7 points), Danny Sibrian (3 points, 4 rebounds), David Sibrian (2 points) and Uhrig (3 points, 2 assists).
Besides Dietz's contributions, Jerome had output from Brett Boesiger (12 points, 5 boards, 2 assists), Tolman (9 points), David Prescott (2 points, 3 rebounds, 2 assists) and Cody Garey (3 points, 2 steals).
Jerome, mindful that a win will give the Tigers a first-round Great Basin tournament home game, travels to Rupert for its final league game against Minico (5-11, 2-3) on Friday, Feb. 3. And Wood River hosts front-running Burley (6-8, 4-1 league) for its "Senior Night" Friday, Feb. 3.
Making their final home appearance will be Wolverine seniors McCroskey, Uhrig, Stark, Kyle Lubeck and injured Casey Lane. Besides five seniors, Wood River has five juniors and one sophomore.
It's looking more and more like this Friday's match-ups will also be the first-round match-ups for the four-team tourney Feb. 14. Wood River had trouble at Burley Jan. 12, losing 54-32, while host Jerome pounded Minico 61-49 Jan. 14.
Burley is the reigning league champion, having beaten top-seeded Jerome 53-49 in the title game last Feb. 21. Burley moved on to the State 4A tournament, but Jerome lost a 51-45 state play-in to Preston. Wood River lost at Jerome 42-35 and at Minico 43-38 last year.
Wood River hosted Buhl (10-5) Tuesday in another game.
