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Tigers down Bobcats in thriller to win OF tourney Van Wade The Orange Leader ORANGEFIELD â€” The Orangefield Bobcats almost caught some Tigers by the tail in the championship game of the Orangefield Tournament Saturday. The Bobcats executed their game-plan to almost perfection but too many turnovers and shaky free-throw shooting down the backstretch enabled the Silsbee Tigers to get past the Bobcats 50-49. Dynamic Silsbee guard Douglas Howard, who finished with 17 points, put the Tigers (10-2) ahead to stay when the tournament Most Valuable Player split two Bobcats and hit a tough layup with 0:15 left to put Silsbee up by a point. The Tigers tallied nine of the gameâ€™s final 11 points. The Bobcats showed plenty of patience in finding the last shot. Sophomore Derrick Evans got a nice look with 0:01 left. Evans put up a very nice-looking jumper along the right side and the ball did everything but go in as it rattled in the rim and rolled around the top before falling off as Silsbee was able to breathe a sigh of relief. The Bobcats (8-3) and Coach Rea Wrinkle wanted to hold the Tigers under 60 points and they did just that with tenacious defense throughout the game. â€œWe came out with a good gameplan and the kids executed well for the most part,â€ Wrinkle said. â€œWe made some tough mistakes down the stretch, but I canâ€™t fault their effort because they went all-out. Free throws hurt us late, we make those, we probably win this thing.â€ As far as the Evansâ€™ shot? â€œMan, I thought that thing was going in,â€ Wrinkle said. â€œI was about ready to drop to the floor. Derrick got a good look and I really thought he knocked it down at first.â€ Wrinkle was proud of the way the Bobcats played against their District 21-3A counterparts _ a team that made it all the way to the 3A Region III Finals last year, losing to another 21-3A rival in what was eventual state champion Hardin-Jefferson. â€œSilsbee has a tremendous team and I thought our kids gained a lot of respect tonight,â€ Wrinkle said. â€œWe thought we had a chance if we kept the game in the 50-point range. We did that, but things got a little crazy at the end, the way Silsbee likes it and that was a big key.â€ Orangefield controlled the tempo well, especially in the first half. The Bobcats led the Tigers 17-9 after one period of play and watched Silsbee cut the margin to 29-28 at the half. Turnovers and the charity stripe proved to be the Bobcatsâ€™ downfall in the waning minutes. The Bobcats committed 20 turnovers but had eight of them in the fourth period. Orangefield was awesome from the foul line in the first half, connecting on 17-of-21 but converted only 1-of-8 free throws in the second half. The Bobcats even outrebounded the taller Tigers 33-29. Silsbee, however, finished with just seven turnovers. The Tigers were only 2-of-7 from the free-throw line. Sophomore all-tournament selection Zach Hayes led the Orangefield attack, popping for 19 points while yanking down nine rebounds. Gritty guard Tyler Angelle ripped off nine points and did well amongst the big boys in the paint by snagging eight rebounds. Post Devin Green contributed eight points while fellow post Jeremy Granger, who made all-tournament, had six points and seven rebounds. Guard Shannon Robinson pumped in 13 points for the Tigers. Post Avery Thomas had eight points and five rebounds while Nick Waters led Silsbee with six boards. The Bobcats return to action Monday when they play host to Little Cypress-Mauriceville.