Malone Tiger Update- 12/25/08

By Ryan Maloney
Saturday 12/13/08
Saturday afternoon, the Malone Tigers took on the John Paul the 3rd Panthers and I tell you the place was packed. My friend, that was a complete and total lie, virtually nobody was there but those who weren’t there missed a pretty good basketball game, if you were a neutral fan. It was a pleasing game if you were from John Paul, your team played well and had the lead most of the first half. The Panthers played solid team basketball. If you were a Tiger however, the Tigers jacked up bad shot after bad shot and found themselves not scoring much from the offense. Which had you worried and rolling your eyes for much of the game especially at the half when you were down 27-16 and down as many as seventeen. But Coach Welch and the Tigers turned on their patented light switch (not sold in stores) and outscored John Paul 22-9 in the 3rd. It was close but the Tigers managed to put it away in a close game, which they failed to do against Sneads Thursday night. They narrowly escaped this one though with 1.1 seconds left on the clock Aaron Conrad threw the inbound pass all the way to the other side of the floor, out of bounds, giving the Panthers another shot to tie or win the game leaving John Paul to draw up a half-court play. But luck was with the Tigers this time unlike most of the season as John Paul couldn’t manage to get a shot off and the Tigers won 49-46 over the Panthers. T.J Smith was the high man for the Malone Tigers with 18 points (coming off his sickness) (Three 3’s in the 2nd half) and Aaron Conrad was second on the team with 11 points(9 pts in the 2nd half).

Monday 12/15/08
The Lady Tigers took the floor once more, this time against fellow Tigers Graceville. But people, don’t let fellow Tigers fool you, these teams don’t like each other. Graceville had revenge on their minds as the Malone Lady Tigers have had the Graceville Tigers number. Key word in that sentence "had", tonight that changed. This Monday night game celebrated a good cause for the Tigers. Students who received a "Tiger Buck" for doing something good, in the teacher’s eyes, were able to go to the Malone/Graceville game for free and late they got their money’s worth. Graceville was in control the most of the first half basically abusing Malone on the boards. But Tigers point guard and leading scorer Vanessa Olds willed the Tigers back into the game as they found themselves down by as many as 17 pts. Along with BreAnna Laster and Latosha Hall the Tigers came back but still found themselves falling short by five (62-57) on this Tiger Buck night. Vanessa Olds scored 23 pts, BreAnna Laster 15pts, and Latosha Hall chipped in 12. For Graceville, Hogans and Williams both scored 16 pts on their way to a district road victory.

Friday 12/19/2008
Friday Afternoon, it was a lackluster crowd in the Milton H. Johnson Health Center at Chipola for the Port St Joe Tiger Sharks and the Malone Tigers. The game started off slow, characteristic of many Malone games this year. The Tigers scored a dismal 14 pts in the first half , the score being Port St.Joe 24- Malone 14. But the Tigers again came out in the second half armed with the their ever so dangerous three point shot. No doubt the turning point in the game was when Malone made a run , cutting it to 2. Malone then stole the ball from Port St. Joe and T.J Smith missed a 3 that rimmed out and everything went down hill from there. The Tigers were downed by the Tiger Sharks 61-54 losing their first of two games at Chipola over the weekend. Smith was the leading scorer for the Tigers with 19 pts(15 in the 2nd half) and Mike Peak was the second leading scoring with 10 pts, all of which came in the second half.
Saturday Night, the Tigers of Malone took on the Jaguars of East Gadsden, a game which nobody in the Milton H. Johnson Health Center thought the Tigers would win except the guys wearing the jerseys. The Tigers were in foul trouble through out the game being in the double bonus in both halves, which was to be presumed with the Tiger’s lack of size compared to the Jaguars. The Tigers ironically only scored 14 pts in the first half, the same amount of points they scored against Port St. Joe, the first game they played in Chipola Friday afternoon. The reason for the Tigers’ slow first half, they only made 2 threes in the first half compared to 7 threes in the second half. The game was undoubtedly competitive but you could see it on the Tigers’ faces, they wanted it more, but they fell short 65-60 to East Gadsden. The game had every opportunity to be blown open by the Jaguars, but the Tigers would always come back but found it tough in trying to complete the comeback. The Tigers played in a controlled hectic pace "if that makes any sense". They were pressed all night and they pressed almost all night long. They didn’t allow many uncontested lay-ups and they rebounded well for their size. The boys in the white left it all on the hardwood in Chipola. Many other fans and coaches would agree if Malone would always play like that they would win more games than they lose . How the Tigers played against that talented of a team shows how good they can be. The question is can they sustain that level of play? If they can good things will happen. Smith dropped 22 pts(14 pts in the 2nd half and Ladarius McElroy had 14 pts (12 pts in 2nd half). The JV call-up John Little chipped in 9 pts(8 in the 4th)

A Christmas Poem for the Weekend
(Tiger Style)
Twas the weekend fore Christmas and all through the gym
All Tigers were hoping for Malone wins
Port St .Joe and East Gadsden in the way
To Chipola, they went astray
In Milton H. Johnson ,they went to play ball
Against Tiger Sharks and Jaguars , they gave it their all
Regardless of victory , they would be on the floor
Not content with losses any more (like they ever were)
They didn’t come out victorious on either nights
But take it from me ,they still wish
A Merry Christmas to All and after the holidays lets play some more basketball
Merry Christmas from the Malone Basketball family!!!!!!