Tigers trip Panthers

The local traditional powers play an ugly game, but Howard manages to win 38-34.

The Howard and Brainerd boys' basketball teams learned the same thing Friday night. They both have a lot to work on.

The huge crowd that packed Brainerd High School's gymnasium expecting to see a high-performance game weren't treated to one. Instead, the Hustlin' Tigers played bad enough to lose; they just didn't. Brainerd was more inefficient and Howard came away with a 38-34 victory.

Customarily the first Brainerd-Howard game is played on the first Friday in December. For a time it was held at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, but lately the teams have played their home-and-home season series at each school's gyms.

"I've been involved in a lot of Brainerd-Howard games," Brainerd coach Robert High said. "Some of the ones played at UTC weren't so pretty, but this takes the cake. Never in my 35 years coaching here have I seen a more sloppy Brainerd-Howard game."

The Tigers' lone returning starter, forward Barry Griffin, was held scoreless in the fourth quarter, but the six field goals he managed from inside the arc were enough to make him the game's leading scorer.

"As green as we are, the big thing for us is playing time," Howard coach Walter McGary said. "Getting in game condition is something we've got to do, and we've got to find a leader. Right now we're just a group of kids playing."

Howard (1-1) had a 13-point first quarter, which included two baskets by Demontay Suttles, and on the second of those he completed a three-point play. He supported Griffin with 11 points, but no other Tiger finished with more than five.

"The first quarter was our best quarter," McGary said. "We didn't do any of things we did in that quarter the rest of the ballgame."

Coach High couldn't decide if he was more disgusted by his team's 23 turnovers or its cold shooting. He used the term "playing in fast forward" when explaining what he saw from his team's offense, which Jeulian High and reserve Goldman Thomas led with eight points apiece.

"At halftime we had 15 points, then we came out and scored 19 in the second half," Coach High said. "Where's the point production?"

Down 28-15 early in the second half, Brainerd (3-3) closed within 34-32 when Tshombe High intercepted a pass and took it in for a layup with 2:29 to play. Despite in the remaining time going 0-for-3 from the free-throw line - two of the misses the front ends of bonus situations - Howard got field goals from Keante Cameron and Suttles and managed to hang on.

"They panicked," McGary said of his players on the court down the stretch. "We've got to develop some ballhandlers."

Contact Kelley Smiddie at ksmiddie@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6653.

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