As they close on the final games of the regular season, the Sweet Home boys basketball team won soundly in a pair of coast trips, 79-61 against Philomath and 64-51 against Taft, last week in boys basketball.

With the wins, they remain tied with Central, whom they face on Friday at home in a game most likely to decide the league championship and first seed for state playoffs. The Huskies split their previous two contests against the Panthers, giving Central its only loss so far this season.

Sweet Home 79, Newport 61

The Huskies opened with an 11-0 run and maintained a double-digit lead throughout the game to defeat Newport on the road Friday night.

“Really what it came down to is we opened the game up on an 11-0 run,” Coach Kostanty Knurowski said. That provided a cushion that lasted the whole game. The Huskies were able to build and maintain a 13- to 15-point lead.

The Huskies led 20-6 after the first quarter and 37-22 at halftime. They extended their lead to 58-37 by the end of the third quarter.

“We came out and shot the ball extremely well,” Knurowski said. Levi Marchbanks, Drew Emmert and Gavin Kauffman each dropped a three in the first three possessions of the game. Kauffman scored another bucket before Newport put its first points on the board.

“We really did play pretty good defense,” he said. “In that first quarter, we held them to six points. It sure made it a lot easier to play with a lead as opposed to a back and forth with them like we had been doing.”

Newport 6 16 15 24 – 61

Sweet Home 20 17 21 21 – 79

Scoring

Newport - Ryan Hoeft 17, Bartoldus 11, Palmer 10, Metcalf 9, Dunmore 6, Bremner 5, Ross 3, Dinwoodie, Gonzales, Dixon, Holliday.

Sweet Home: Drew Emmert 25, Kauffman 23, Marchbanks 13, Cota 6, Jones 6, Moyer 4, Coleman 2, Rice, J. Webb, C. Webb, Rubidoux, Morgan, Winslow.

Sweet Home 64, Taft 51

Playing at Taft on Feb. 2 was a similar situation as the Huskies defeated the Tigers 64-51.

It appeared that Taft was trying to slow the game down early in the game, Knurowski said. The Huskies led 12-7 after one quarter, but they broke loose in the second to a 32-16 lead.

The Huskies were cruising along and playing good defense, Knurowski said. “It felt like our pressure was starting to get to them.”

As happens often at Taft, the Tigers got hot late in the third and scored five threes in the last 10 minutes of the game. The Huskies led 47-31 after the third quarter, and Taft’s final push closed the gap by only three points.

“I felt like we came out and played well, especially at the beginning of the game,” Knurowski said. Toward the end of the game, the Huskies didn’t do quite as well, and they didn’t connect well from the foul line, shooting 6-15 on the game.

The Huskies next host Central on Friday in what is probably going to decide the league championship.

Throughout the week, the team did a great job of not looking too far ahead even while other people are busy talking about Central, Knurowski said. After the loss to Central and with the next Central game looming, it would have been easy to stumble.

“It’s going to come down to us and Central,” Knurowski said. “Other games could be a factor, but the winner of this game has about a 95 percent chance or higher of winning league.”

And with it, the team will win first seed in state playoffs. With the win over Newport, the Huskies can finish no worse than a second-place, Knurowski said. At worst, finishing second and losing a league playoff game, the Huskies could be third seed in state playoffs.

The Huskies were a little embarrassed the last time they matched up against Central, especially since the Huskies didn’t play the way they are capable, Knurowski said. With that and so much at stake, he expects the Huskies to be in the fight this week.

Central is a good team, ranked number one in the state for the majority of the season, Knurowski said, and there’s a reason. Sweet Home is the only team to beat the Panthers so far this year.

“For us to win, it’s going to be a tough task but a task we’ve already done once on their court this year,” he said. He and the team are looking forward to the home-court advantage and seeing the fans.

As part of this week’s “War of the Worlds” events, the student body is having a “whiteout” in support of the boys basketball team, Knurowski said. “All Sweet Home fans are encouraged to wear white in support of Sweet Home.”

Taft 7 9 15 20 – 51

Sweet Home 12 20 15 17 - 64

Taft:  Jake Lee 11, Wilkinson 10, Z. Ehrenfelt 9, McNelly 9, B. Ehrenfelt 5, Lovejoy 4, Martin 3, Baker, Holmes.

Sweet Home: Drew Emmert 20, Gavin Kauffman 20, Coleman 9, Jones 8, Moyer 3, Cota 2, J. Webb 2, Marchbanks 1, Rice, C. Webb, Rubidoux, Morgan, Winslow.