The Summit High School Tigers boys basketball team started its season with a two-day tournament Friday, Dec. 3, and Saturday, Dec. 4. The Tigers faced the Kent Denver Sun Devils on the first day of the tournament Friday.

From the beginning, Summit struggled to execute on the offensive and defensive sides of the ball, and the Tigers were outscored 65-34 in the first half alone.

The Tigers’ woes continued in the second half as they were only able to score a combined 12 points, while they allowed the Sun Devils to put up another 36 to combine for a triple-digit score of 101 points. Summit would end up losing their first game of the season by a score of 101-46.

“We have a lot of growth to do yet,” head coach Jordan Buller said. “We are playing a lot of guys with no experience, at least at the varsity level.”

In the second day of the tournament, Summit faced Englewood High School, which also got out to an early lead while Summit searched for a way to attack.

At halftime, the score was 39-18, and in the second half, the Tigers once again ran out of gas, scoring a combined 8 points to lose the game 68-26.

On Tuesday, Dec. 7, the Summit boys basketball team traveled to Middle Park to face the Panthers. Both Summit and Middle Park played strong defensively from the opening tipoff.

Summit was able to score only 6 points in the first quarter to Middle Park’s 13. However, in the second quarter, the Tigers staunched the Panthers offense, allowing them to score only 7 points, which the Tigers matched with 7 of their own to go into halftime down 20-13.

In the second half, both offenses were able to find holes in each other’s defensive game plans. The Panthers especially started to blow the game open, outscoring the Tigers by 9 points in the third quarter. The Tigers once again matched the Panthers in points in the fourth, but it wasn’t enough to come away with the team’s first win. The Panthers won 53-37 for their third win of the season.

“The guys are really playing hard,” Buller said. “This is something that I am glad to see. We are just struggling to find a way to put the ball in the basket or a guy to be our scorer. But we brought the energy the entire game. In the long run, in the next couple weeks, I think we are going to see the fruits of our continued efforts.”

Buller is hoping that the more the young team plays together as a whole varsity squad that a clear scorer will come to fruition as team chemistry starts to stabilize.

Buller thinks junior captain Jack Schierholz, senior Mac Scroggins and sophomore Matthew Valdez will serve as the main leaders of the team and continue to do what they can to jump-start the season.

The Summit Tigers will now travel to Arrupe Jesuit High School in Denver to face the 2-1 Generals on Wednesday, Dec. 8. The game is scheduled to tip off at 7 p.m.