Wyatt Suchorski calls the play for Dayville/Monument.

MONUMENT — The Dayville/Monument boys basketball team fell behind early to Four Rivers on Saturday, Feb. 5, and trailed the rest of the way, ultimately losing 65-43 on their home court despite a second-half comeback bid.

The visiting Falcons would open the game on an 8-0 run that was finally broken by a Tiger basket with 5:03 left in the first quarter. The Falcons would go on another 8-0 run in response but the Tigers would answer this time, cutting the Falcon lead to just six at 16-10 with just over 1:00 left in the first quarter. This time it was the Falcons who would respond, outscoring the Tigers 6-2 to end the first and taking a 22-12 lead into the second quarter.

Four Rivers would open the second quarter on another run, this time a 10-2 scoring burst that would push their lead to 32-14, forcing a Tiger timeout with 5:44 left in the half. The Falcons would continue to score while the Tigers struggled to find offensive consistency, extending their lead to 25 at 39-14 to force a Tiger timeout with 3:31 left in the half.

The Falcons would ultimately outscore the Tigers 22-5 in the second quarter to take a daunting 44-17 lead into halftime.

The Tigers came out inspired in the second half, outscoring the Falcons 17-8 in the third quarter, including a 9-0 scoring burst to end the period. The Tigers would still find themselves with a lot of work to do, however, down 58-37 headed into the fourth quarter.

Scoring was sparse for both teams in the fourth, with each scoring less than 10 points in the period. The Tiger deficit headed into the fourth was simply too much as the team ultimately fell 65-43 for their fifth consecutive loss.

Leading the Tigers offensively was Ethan Thompson, who finished with a team-high 18 points. Wyatt Suchorski added 10 points for the Tigers and Tyler Thompson finished the day with seven points.

Tiger head basketball coach Mike Davis said his team’s effort is there but they are struggling with the ability to score consistently.

“We put a lot of good effort in, we’re just coming up short a lot of shooting,” he said. “Scoring is probably our No. 1 problem. We’ve got a lot of young guys who are still in development. I think we’re going to be good in a couple years, but this is that development period.”

The team did have a 9-0 scoring blitz to end the third quarter. Davis said the key for his team is finding consistency and maintaining momentum within games.

“We go through really, really good stretches. When we cut down on our mistakes, we’re in every game,” he said. “It’s just maintaining, and again, that’s just from us being young.”

Davis highlighted that the team is asking a lot from a freshman point guard and a pair of sophomores with large roles.

“They’re getting there,” he said. “The improvement is very noticeable over the course of the season.”

The Tigers have two more games until the start of the postseason, a Friday, Feb. 9, battle at Long Creek and a Saturday, Feb. 10, game with Gilchrist in Dayville. The Long Creek game will get underway at 6 p.m., with the Gilchrist game set to start at 2:30 p.m.

The Tigers will then head to John Day for the High Desert League Tournament on Thursday, Feb. 15. Who the Tigers will be facing in the opening round of the district tournament, along with a start time, is still to be determined.