On Tuesday, the Roseville basketball program welcomed the Whitney Wildcats to the Moeller Gym for a classic Capital Valley Conference rivalry series. The Wildcats were able to escape with two wins, winning both the varsity and freshman games with scores of 78-66 and 55-52, respectively. However, the Tigers were able to take the JV game by a score of 66-58.

The freshman game was a one sided affair all the way up until the fourth quarter. Unfortunately for the Tigers, the Wildcats had already amounted a 20 point lead which the Tigers weren’t able to overcome by the time it came to the final quarter.

According to guard Tanner Rubey, the team was able to finish the game strong and showed some adversity even though the boys weren’t able to make the final shot that would have pushed the game to overtime.

“We were down by eight at the half and then we kinda fell apart in the second half,” Rubey said. “We were down by 20 going into the fourth quarter and we really pulled it together and just weren’t able to make the last shot.”

The JV team advanced to 11-0 with its win over the Wildcats and strengthened its spot atop the league’s rankings. With only three games to go (against Oakmont, Bella Vista and Ponderosa), the Tigers’ chances at earning the first place banner look good.

Despite handing the Wildcats their only league loss earlier this year, the Tigers weren’t able to pull off a second victory last night in their 78-66 defeat. The Tigers were down 20-15 at the end of the first quarter and trailed the rest of the game, entering the second half 34-28 and the fourth quarter 61-47.

The varsity team is now 7-4 and is tied with Cosumnes Oaks for the third place spot in league.