Fruitland boys bounce back with win
By Argus Observer Sports Staff
Sunday, December 2, 2007 6:52 AM PST
Boys prep basketball
Saturday
Fruitland 53, Columbia 45
Nampa
On Saturday, the Griz were back on the road as they traveled to Columbia to take on the 4A Wildcats, and came away with a 53-45 win to even their record to 1-1 on the season.
Frutiland was led by Andrew with 15 points, while Matt Stanger chipped in with nine.
Head coach Mike Fitch said
Fruitland will travel to New Plymouth Friday for an 8 p.m. tip off.
Weiser 48 Melba 37 Melba
The Weiser boys basketball team opened its season with a road win over Melba Saturday 48-37 as Gavin Eisenbarth led the Wolverines with 12 points in the win.
Head coach Dave Shirts said his teams defense played well, but the team will have to work on execution. “For an opener, I thought we did pretty good for the first two and a half quarters,” Shirts said. “Our defense was solid, and we did a good job blocking Melba out.”
Weiser will host Vale at 8 p.m. Thursday.
FRiday
Tigers 60, Grizzlies 56
La Grande
Free throws made the difference in the outcome of the Grizzlies basketball game against La Grande Friday.
Fruitland shot 12-of-20 from the charity stripe while the Tigers of La Grande shot 13-of-21 in their 60-56 win.
“The kids played tough and the game was decided in the final few minutes,” Fruitland head coach Mike Fitch said. “They (La Grande) made some free throws down the strech to win the game.”
Adrian 57, Harper 37
Harper
Adrian dominated the Hornets of Harper Friday night at the Tip off Tournament with a 57-37 drubbing. Adrian began the game on a 17-1 run through the first quarter and continued to dominate into the second frame and led at the break 25-7. The Antelopes shot 50 percent from the field ain the opening half but struggled at the charity stripe shooting a weak 20 percent.
Harper came out in the third stanza and outscored the Antelopes 16-15, then added 14 more in the final frame but it was too little to late. Adrian logged 32 second half points and were led by George Ellsworth who tallied 17 points followed by Maurus Hope and Kyle Dondero each scoring 14 in the win.
Adrian will travel to Greenleaf Tuesday for a 7 p.m. tip.
girls prep basketball
Saturday
Nyssa Tournament
Nyssa 43, Marsing 38
Nyssa
The Lady Bulldogs host a for team tournament over the weekend and coach Nyssa head coach Danny Pratt said the competition was good.
Nyssa opened its tournament agaisnt Marsing,defeating them 43-38 behind the shooting of of Amanda Bittenger who scored 19 points. With the win the Lady Bulldogs were matched up against 4A Nampa High School, who Pratts described as a team that was clearly better than the rest of the field.
Nampa rached the finals with a 40 point win over Cole Valley before dispatching Nyssa 59-32. Turnovers plagued the Lady Bulldogs against Nampa and in the final frame, Pratt said his team must have missed 10 layups, as they logged only two points
“We came out hustling, and are working on execution,” Pratt said. “It’s early and we are working hard. We still cutting our teeth so to speak.”
Nyssa will travel to Baker Saturday.
“I hope we can bounce back with a win, and correct our errors by this game.” Pratt said.
FRiday
Weiser 58, Melba 39
Weiser
Bouncing back with a win is what Weiser head coach Tim Erhard wanted and the win is what he got, as the Lady Wolverines had their way with Melba winning 58-39.
The two teams battled to a 12 all tie after the first quarter of action, and then in the second frame Weiser was five better outscoring Melba 15-10 tolead at the break 27-22.
But it was in the second half that decided the game as the Lady Wolverines added 16 points in the third and 15 in the fourth for their 58 points.
Weiser was led by the 5-foot 6-inch senior Annie Hafer with 15 points, and teammate Amanda Palmer, the 5-feet, 10-inch senior added 16.
“We played solid defense,” Erhard said. “Palmer and Hafer both had outstanding games, they applied a lot of good pressure to the Melba ball handlers in the back court and did not allow Melba to get into its offense very easily.”
Weiser will travel to New Plymouth Tuesday for an 8 p.m. tipoff.
Fruitland 54 Nampa Christian 39
Nampa
The Lady Griz are off to a hot start with a 5-0 record. Saturday Fruitland traveled to Nampa to take on Nampa Christian and Kylee Nawahine had a career night with 25 points.
“We did a great job as a team getting her the ball, but we also had six other player score,” head coach Beth Holt said. “I am pleased with the way the offense is distributing the ball, but displeased with the number of tunrover we have per game.”
Fruitland is averaging 17 turnovers a game and against Nampa Christian they tallied 22.
Fruitland will host Vale at 8 p.m. Tuesday.
