BREWSTER – Tonasket boys basketball coach Agustin Pedregon wanted to use the Brewster Christmas Tournament to measure the progress of his team, as the Tigers faced two opponents that they’d already played this season.

Other than the final few minutes of the tourney championship game against the host Bears, the reviews were pretty positive.

The Tigers fell to Brewster 60-42 in the Saturday, Dec. 29, final after knocking off Lake Roosevelt 71-46 in Friday’s opener.

“Brewster was a different show than the first time we played,” Pedregon said. “We did lose by 18, but it wasn’t a blowout. We were in it most of the game.”

The Tigers trailed by 10 points with 6:30 to go, but wilted after a Brewster 3-pointer made it a 13-point game.

“After that three we kind of gave up,” Pedregon said. “It’s something the guys need to learn is that you need to play right to the end. Six minutes is a long time.

“The good thing is we made them work for everything. They hit some 3-pointers, but we made them shoot from very deep. (Easton) Driessen and (Timbo) Taylor had to work. We played with a lot more urgency and we were able to make their freshmen make some freshman mistakes.”

Michael Orozco paced the Tigers with 18 points, with Dyllan Gage adding 10.

Against the Raiders, the Tigers took a 36-22 lead at the half and continued to build on it in the second half

“We knew what they wanted to do and were able to take their guards out of the game better than the first time,” Pedregon said. “We knew who would hurt us and were able to focus on them.”

Tonasket put four players in double figures: Gage hit three 3-pointers to lead the Tigers wity 17 points, with Derek Sund (7-of-8 at the free throw line) adding 13 and Trevor Terris and Orozco scoring 12 each.

The Tigers (5-5) return to Caribou Trail League play this week at home against Omak on Thursday, Jan. 3, and at Cascade on Saturday.