Tiger boys' basketball will host Hoover Tuesday in Division II Central Section opener

In that game Hoover held a four-point lead going into the final period, but the Tigers outscored the Patriots 18-14 to send the game into overtime, finally winning by two points.

Lemoore ended its regular season on a sour note as they dropped a disappointing 60-46 finale to visiting Hanford Thursday night in the Event Center. The Bullpups were crowned the West Yosemite League champions while the Tigers enter the Division II playoffs with a 6-6 league record. Lemoore kept the contest close in the first quarter, trailing at the break 15-12, but the Bullpups poured it on the second quarter and led at the half 38-26.

At one point in the second half, the Bullpups led by 20 before the Tigers began to whittle the Hanford lead down  a bit, but it was too little too late as Lemoore fell before a capacity crowd.

The Tigers hope to get a home contest when the playoff pairings are announced Saturday.

It was a bright Valentine’s night for Lemoore’s varsity boys’ basketball team as they erased a huge deficit and stormed back to beat El Diamante Friday night in the Event Center 70-66 to keep them in the running for a good seed in the Valley playoffs which begin in a little over a week.

MaxPreps West Yosemite League Standings

The Tigers, during an emotionless first half, looked as if they had consumed a few too many chocolate valentines because they managed to score exactly four points in the first quarter, a low for the season. They didn’t fare much better in the second quarter and found themselves trailing the Miners 31-17 at the half.

Faced with defeat, Lemoore might have fallen to 5-5 in the West Yosemite League, jeopardizing their hopes of snatching a top seed in next week’s Division II playoffs.

“We didn’t come to play basketball,” said Tiger Coach Joel Sligh. “We were just going through the motions, we just didn’t have any fight in us.”

But boy did they come out to play in the second half. Lemoore, fueled by the hyper-play of guard Arthur Madison and Allen Perryman, erupted for 28 third quarter points and stormed back to tie the Miners in the late stretches of the third quarter.

Perryman scored seven points in the quarter to complement Madison’s six points, come of which came on twisting drives up the middle that would have impressed even Michael Jordan. It was an indeed an impressive display of shooting and ball handling that was completely absent in the first half.

Lemoore finally tied the game at 38-38 before the Miners regained the lead. With just a pair of ticks left on the third quarter clock, C.J. Johnson found himself in the lane, had his shot blocked, grabbed it in midair and banked it off the glass to cut the Miners lead to just one at 46-45.

Moments later Jerald Campbell tossed in a three-point basket to regain the advantage and a 48-46 lead. Erick Perry was the big contributor in the final period with a three-pointer, and four free throws, two of them coming off technical fouls called on El Diamante Coach Jim Moore, a former LHS Tiger star who now coaches in Visalia.

It was during halftime that the coaching staff finally got the Tigers fired up. “They made a determination that they didn’t want to lose on their home court…and they said okay, let’s go out there and play. They were on fire,” said Sligh.

The game wasn’t finally won until the very last seconds. With 25.5 seconds left, Johnson sank two of three free throws to tie the Miners at 66-66. Chris Garcia put the Tigers ahead with a free throw with 20 ticks left on the clock. Johnson hauled in a missed El Diamante shot and was fouled. He made one of two free throws for a 68-66 lead with just 9.2 seconds left. Garcia was fouled with just 4.2 seconds left and sank both free throws to account for the final score.

Lemoore hopes to improve on its 6-4 record with a Tuesday night game at Golden West followed by the regular season closer Thursday night in the Event Center against WYL leading Hanford.