Tigers set for break ahead of Mother Road

Dec. 26—While the Tahlequah Lady Tigers will be busy preparing for the Tournament of Champions over winter break their boys counterpart will start a two-week long break. With the Tigers not playing until the Mother Road Classic on Jan. 4, THS Head Coach Duane Jones is going to give his players a chance to rest up ahead of a grueling end-of-the-season schedule.

After the Tigers get a couple of days off it is back to business according to Jones.

We are only going to take about five days off," Jones said. "Then the first day or two, it is just getting back and getting some shots up. Then we make sure our offense is good still. Then we have to gameplay for our tournament."

Coming into the break the Tigers are sitting in solid position. Winner of three straight district games, the Tigers have been comeback kids in their last two games. Bad starts have seen the Tigers have to come back to take their last two wins.

On Thursday, Dec. 21 the Tigers fell down by 12 points to Claremore and eventually worked their way back thanks to an important end-of-the-game stretch.

"It is always important to come out the first three or four minutes strong. I didn't think we came out in the third the best but our fourth quarter was great," Jones said.

During that stretch, the Tigers have not started their games well. While the offense is normally very potent the Tigers have not started the last two games well on the defensive end. On Thursday, the Tigers allowed 21 first-quarter points and then only allowed 23 for the rest of the game. A similar situation happens early in the week against Collinsville.

"When they got ahead we took some quick shots. Once we settled down it made a big difference, we just plugged away," Jones said.

THS is set to be the No. 2 seed at the Mother Road Classic. The Tigers are set to take on Kiefer at 10:30 a.m. on Jan. 4 in Verdigris.

"I think it is going to be a good tournament that we have the chance to win if we play well," Jones said.

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