The St. John Tigers ended their run through regionals Thursday after losing 32-45 to the Claflin Wildcats.The Tigers finished their season at 10-10.
The teams started even with both scoring 11 as Zach Achor and Danton Hilton carried the Tiger offense. Hilton hit a deuce and a three-pointer while Achor hit a trio of two-pointers.
In the second the Tiger offense hit seven with a trey from Zach Minnis and a pair of deuces by Omar Herrera, but the Wildcats went on a 14-point run grabbing a seven point lead of 18-27 going into the break.
The third quarter was a low-scoring period for both teams with St. John scoring only two points off a pair of free throws by Herrera. Claflin only hit four off a pair from the field. The Tigers shot only 25 percent in the first half, but dropped to only 14 percent for the game after the low scoring third quarter.
They played a box plus one on Danton the whole game,” said Tiger head coach Clint Kinnamon. “We got great looks for our other guys and even Danton got some, they did a super job running the offenses, it was just one of those nights when the ball didn't go in the basket.”
In the fourth Hilton got the offense back on track scoring 11 of the team’s 12 points off a trio of three-pointers and one from the inside. Minnis added one hitting the second of two free throws, but Claflin went on to score 16 off 12 free throws and two from the field for the final 32-45.
“It was a very disappointing end to the season for the players, coaches, managers, parents and fans,” said Tiger coach Clint Kinnamon. “Going out the way we did by simply missing open shots was unfortunate.
“Our three seniors will be missed. Matt Ward and Omar Herrera got a lot out of the size that they had. Matt always had to guard interior people and at 5-10 did a remarkable job of it in his 4 years as a Tiger. I told Omar after the game, the biggest prejudice in sports is not skin color, but size. For his size, he was remarkable. He was a good rebounder and ended up being a good defender and scorer. Both those two were tough kids.
Danton came to us after playing three seasons at Claflin. He's one of the better players we have had here at St. John since I've been here. He led us in scoring, rebounding, three-point percentage and steals. He was our second in field goal percentage and assists.
