JOHN DAY — Back to the drawing board.

An undersized Dayville/Monument Tiger basketball squad couldn’t keep Four Rivers out of the paint, leaving the opening round of the High Desert League basketball tournament as the victims of a 68-24 loss on Thursday, Feb. 16, at Grant Union High School.

The teams traded three-pointers to start the game, and that would be as close as the Tigers would get to Four Rivers. The Falcons would lead 24-6 after one quarter of play on the heels of a 21-3 run that began right after the early 3-3 tie.

The Falcons picked up right where they left off to start the second, scoring 15 unanswered before a Dayville/Monument three-pointer broke the Tiger scoring drought. The Tigers would end the first half with some work to do, down 41-11.

Tiger scoring would pick up in the third quarter with the team putting up almost as many points in the quarter (nine) as they did the entire first half. The Tigers couldn’t slow Four Rivers down, surrendering 14 points in the quarter to the Falcons to trail 55-20 entering the final frame. 

A fourth quarter push never materialized. The Tigers only managed four points in the fourth, falling to Four Rivers 68-24 to find themselves in the consolation game on Friday morning. 

Leading the Tigers on offense was Michael Martin, who finished with 11 points. Ethan Thompson added four points for the Tigers, and Tyler Thompson finished with three points. 

Tiger head basketball coach Mike Davis said Four Rivers’ size was just too much for his undersized squad to deal with. “That’s been sort of a problem for us all year, being undersized,” he said.

“My biggest guy is barely six foot and he’s coming off of an ankle sprain, and that made it even more difficult. Those (Four Rivers) kids are really big. If you let them pretty much anywhere near the basket, it’s game over,” he added.

The Tigers have one more game to play in the tournament and will match up with the loser of the Prairie City/Burnt River and Jordan Valley matchup on Friday, Feb. 17. Tipoff is scheduled for 9:45 a.m. at Grant Union High School.