LOYAL. LOCAL. COMPLETE.
The energy was electric Tuesday night as the Paris Tigers played host to the visiting La Salette Academy Lions. As is customary when visiting Paris, La Salette brought its entire student body to pack the stands and provide energy levels rarely seen in high school sports.
The energy, along with a size advantage under the basket, had the Tiger offense a little off their game at the start. Despite these early struggles, the Tigers managed to hang on to only a four-point deficit at halftime with a score of 28-32.
Hopes were high coming out of the break, but the third quarter was where things really fell apart.
A slew of turnovers combined with poor shooting led to the Tigers garnering only eight points while increasing their deficit to eight with a score of 36-44 in favor of the Lions.
With the game growing out of control, the Tigers got down to business. They turned up the defense and used some timely turnovers to climb back into the game.
Junior Karic Vitale was a big part of the offensive comeback, driving to the basket and earning several trips to the foul line where he went five of six down the stretch.
The game continued to be interesting after Madox Hutchings and Jackson Rigdon hit a couple of clutch three-pointers to bring the Tigers within one point with only 7.1 seconds remaining.
La Salette managed to add another free throw before missing the second and leaving the Tigers only six seconds for one final shot.
Senior Rigdon’s three-point shot at the buzzer was off the mark, and the Tigers ultimately fell to the Lions 58-57.
The Tigers were led in scoring by Rigdon with 20; Carter Eastham had 16, Vitale added 13, while Madox Hutchings and Jacob Staley scored six and two, respectively. The Tigers were 50 percent from the floor on 16 of 32 shooting while going 5 of 23 for 22 percent from three-point land and 10 of 15 for 67 percent from the free-throw line.
The loss brings Paris’ record to 14-11 on the season.
Next up for the team is a trip down Route One to Robinson on Friday, Feb. 7, for a conference matchup with the 2-18 Maroons.