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Tiger boys two-for-two in Hoopla tournament

DEVON O'NEIL
Summit Daily/Brad Odekirk
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FARMER’S KORNER ” You never get a second chance to make a first impression, and the Summit High School boys basketball team didn’t need one anyway Friday night.

The Tigers jumped on top of Platte Canyon 24-4 in a near-perfect first quarter, and got everyone involved from there en route to a 60-39 win over the Huskies in the second day of the Holiday Hoopla tournament.

Ten of the 11 Tigers scored in the win, which improved Summit’s record to 4-2 going into today’s pre-Christmas finale against West Grand. Platte Canyon dropped to 0-4.



“We expected to come in and beat them pretty easily, and we did,” said senior guard Aaron George.

George led the 10-man scoring charge with 11 points, all of which came in the first half. He hit two straight 3-pointers in Summit’s rousing first quarter, putting the Tigers up 17-2. At that point, he said, “I thought the game was over. I thought we were just going to blow them away.”



Summit coach Mike Rathgeber used the game to give his bench some playing time, however, and the Huskies kept it respectable until the final few minutes. At one point they pulled to within 10, but couldn’t get any closer as Summit pulled away.

Senior forward Mike Holloway was the only other Tiger in double figures; he scored 10 points. Jordan McCarthy and Clint Hamilton scored nine and eight points, respectively, off the bench for Summit.

The game was a step in the right direction defensively for the Tigers, who went in giving up 52 points per game after ranking second in the 4A Jeffco League last season with an average in the mid-40s.

“That was the main thing we talked about, let’s get back to keeping people in the 30s and 20s,” Rathgeber said.

After Summit’s dominant opening quarter, Rathgeber platooned his second team of five with the starters for the rest of the game. It hurt the Tigers slightly in the second quarter ” Summit went more than six minutes without a field goal after hitting 10 in the first eight minutes ” but Rathgeber was pleased nonetheless.

“Any time you can play all 11 kids and they can contribute and have fun, that’s even better than a 50-point win,” he said.

Tip-ins: Today’s game against West Grand tips off at 11 a.m. … A night after combining for 44 points in a win over Clear Creek, seniors Kylor Dossett and Garrison Green scored four points apiece in limited action. Both had seven rebounds, and Dossett added six assists … Summit’s Holloway and Alex Shackleton each hit buzzer-beating shots at the end of a half. Holloway’s came as time ran out in the first half, and Shackleton’s swished at the final buzzer to get the Tigers to 60.

Devon O’Neil can be contacted at (970) 668-3998, ext. 231, or at doneil@summitdaily.com.


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