A strong press kept the Huskies in a game against the sharpshooting Woodburn Bulldogs Friday night at home, but it wasn’t enough for the boys basketball team to snag the win.
Woodburn beat Sweet Home 62-58 in their opening league game.
The Bulldogs shot 46 percent from the three-point line and 48.7 percent from the field, while Huskies shooting was off, 28 percent from the three-point line and 31 percent from the field. They made up for the difference, scoring 18 on turnovers to Woodburn’s nine. Woodburn turned the ball over 28 times, while Sweet Home turned the ball over just 16 times.
“It was pretty back and forth the first half,” said Coach Drew Emmert. Woodburn led 17-14 after the first quarter and 30-26 at halftime.
In the third quarter, the Bulldogs pulled ahead, leading 45-34 mid-quarter, but the Huskies went on a run to get within a bucket, 48-46, going into the fourth quarter. The Huskies went on to take a two-point lead multiple times in the final period.
“With two minutes left, we actually got ahead by two,” Emmert said, but the Huskies gave up a couple of fouls while Woodburn was shooting well, and Woodburn took back the lead to finish the game.
Hunter Coulter led scoring for the Huskies with 18 points. Tomas Veliz led Woodburn with 16 points and three three-pointers.
Overall, “we played solid,” Emmert said. “We didn’t shoot well Friday.”
At the same time, Woodburn hit tough shots, he said. “Some of those were pretty contested threes.”
The Huskies defense helped, he said. “Taking the ball from them, they can’t get shots up.”
The Huskies spend the next four games on the road, three of them against highly ranked opponents.
They needed the win at home against Woodburn, Emmert said. “It’s a tough one to lose, but it’s early, and we’re in the best league in the state. There’s a lot of season left. It’ll be a good one tomorrow (at third-ranked Philomath Tuesday evening). We just need to steal a couple more on the road.”
The Huskies travel next to 12th-ranked Stayton Friday evening and then to seventh-ranked Cascade on Jan. 24.
Stayton plays a half-court game and doesn’t press a lot, a slower-paced game, like Philomath, Emmert said. Stayton doesn’t have any big stand-out players but has a lot of solid well-rounded players.
The game will come down to whoever controls the tempo, Emmert said.
Woodburn 17 13 18 14 – 62
Sweet Home 14 12 20 12 – 58
Woodburn scoring: Tomas Veliz 16, Jeavanny Marroquin 10, Reese Miller 8, Jordan Blem 8, Jose Lua 5, Carter Nelson 3, Cole Beyer, Maurico Maravilla, Georgio Bustamante, David Cherimnov.
Sweet Home scoring: Hunter Coulter 18, Casey Tow 12, Aiden Tyler 10, Kai Bryson 7, Zach Luttmer 5, Braden Keesee 4, Jasper Korn 2, Cole Baxter, Zach Zanona.