Oakville’s varsity boys basketball team suffered a hard-fought loss against Eureka’s Wildcats on Jan. 26.

The tigers started off strong when they took the lead on their own court, but Eureka soon caught up later in the game, resulting in a tug-of-war for the win. In the fourth quarter, OHS played a game of catch-up, utilizing top scorers Donovan Tritschler (12) with 12 points and Brenden Gillman (10) with 11 points, but it was not enough. Although OHS played hard, they were just short of the win. The final score was 49-41.

“I think we needed to execute more on offense,” Nick Durham (11) said, “but tonight was a big step in the way we are wanting to go.”

The Wildcat victory left Oakville with a record of 4-12. The amount of free throw opportunities that Eureka had over Oakville could have made a difference in the final score of the game. Eureka, with 24 free throw opportunities, made 14, and Oakville made 6 of their 9.

Despite the loss, OHS is learning from their mistakes.

“Lately we have been focusing on our defense which leads to easy buckets,” Durham said.

Oakville basketball hopes to keep improving their game.

The tigers play McCluer High School at McCluer for their next game on Jan. 29.