If shooting a basketball is an acquired skill, the Madrid Tigers boys' basketball team must have spent a lot of hours in the gym over the years. The Tigers shot a torrid 51% which included eleven three pointers in its 74-50 win over the ACGC Chargers last night. The hot shooting offense and a pesky, aggressive zone defense by Madrid proved to be too much for the Chargers, as they dropped the season and WCAC opener.

Madrid slowly built its lead throughout the game, as it led 16-14 and 32-24, after the first and second quarters. Midway through the third quarter, with the Tigers extending their lead to 16 points at 44-28, the Chargers made a run to close the gap to 49-39 at the end of three frames.

Enter Eric Steig. The non-starter Madrid junior thrust the proverbial dagger into the Chargers when he nailed two consecutive long balls (plus one at the end of the third quarter) to up the Tiger lead to 55-39. The Chargers never challenged after that.

Charger head coach Jake Mohling was complimentary when speaking about the hot shooting Tigers when he said, "Hats off to Madrid. They look much improved. Last year they were football players playing basketball and this year they have very skilled basketball players. Braden Gibbons was impressive--just a sophomore, but he controls the game and lets it come to him." Gibbons and Steig each connected on five treys for Madrid.

The Chargers' shooting was in the respectable range as they connected on 21 shots in 49 attempts for 43%, but 23 turnovers led to 25 Madrid points. Sophomores Bryce Littler and Quynton Younker each scored in double figures for ACGC, with 13 and 10 points respectively, while Collin Stowe followed with 8. Littler and Younkers also led in rebounding with 8 and 7 boards. Littler led in assists with 4.

Mohling also said, "We couldn't keep up with their quickness and our defensive rotations weren't quick enough to stop their fast break. We had some bright spots. I thought Bryce played the best game of his career and we kept fighting as a team. We can always improve with players who never give up."

The Chargers will return to action this Friday, December 1 when they travel to Ogden. The freshman boys will play a preliminary game at 4:30, followed by the girls' and then the boys' varsity games.

Score by Quarters: ACGC Box Score:

Madrid 16 16 17 25--74 Rbds

ACGC 14 10 15 11--50 FG 3Pt FT Off-Def Assts Steals TP

Sargent 0-1 0-1 0-0 0-0 0 0 0

Nelson 1-4 1-3 0-1 0-1 1 0 3

Plowman 0-0 0-0 0-0 0-1 0 0 0

Spack 2-5 1-3 2-2 1-3 3 1 7

Byers 0-0 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0

Wheatley 1-2 0-1 0-0 1-1 2 1 2

Littler 5-11 2-3 1-2 1-7 4 0 13

Wardyn 3-6 1-4 0-0 0-0 0 1 7

Younker 5-10 0-2 0-1 4-3 2 0 10

Stowe 4-10 0-0 0-2 1-0 0 1 8