Sweet Home lost 63-61 at Cascade on Feb. 12 and 55-35 at Sisters Friday, but they have managed to clinch a spot in the play-in round of state playoffs based on the entire Oregon West Conference’s high rankings.
If the 13th-ranked Huskies win their final regular season game against Newport, scheduled for Tuesday at home, the Huskies will host the play-in game. If the Huskies lose, they might still host or they might have to travel.
Coach Drew Emmert said that Cascade is the only team in the Oregon West that might miss the play-in round at this point based on its statewide ranking at 19th.
“It’s a good thing we were really good in the preseason,” Emmert said. “It kept us afloat.”
The Huskies went 11-1 in the preseason before going 2-9 in league play so far. The entire league had a strong winning record by the time league play opened up, earning the conference four top-ten rankings and everyone a place in the top 20.
“In playoffs, anything can happen,” Emmert said. The Huskies have been “super streaky” this year, but when “we get going we can be scary.”
At Cascade, “we played OK in the first half,” Emmert said. The Huskies were down 18-12 in the first quarter and then 32-26 at halftime.
“We had a good second half,” Emmert said, and the Huskies stormed back in the third quarter to take a small lead, 42-41.
They were ahead by six points with a minute and a half left on the clock, Emmert said. At 40 seconds, the Huskies were still ahead by four and then missed four free throws. Cascade scored to get within a bucket and scored again to take the game into overtime at 54-54.
The Huskies took a shot with 14 seconds on the clock to try to close out the win, but the shot missed, Emmert said. They grabbed their own board and drew a travel call, leaving Cascade eight seconds to score the winning bucket.
Hunter Coulter led the Huskies at the hoop, scoring 12, and Aiden Tyler added another 11 points. Carson Molan led the Cougars with 23.
Sweet Home 12 14 16 12 7 – 61
Cascade 18 14 9 13 8 – 63
Sweet Home scoring: Hunter Coulter 12, Aiden Tyler 11, Colton Smith 9, Casey Tow 8, Jake Smith 8, Nate Virtue 6, Zach Luttmer 4, Cade Gaskey 2, Jasper Korn 1, Zach Zanona.
Cascade scoring: Carson Molan 23, Nolan 12, Davis 12, Sande 5, Raney 5, Whisman 2, Starnes 2, Diehl, Kanoff.
At Sisters, the Huskies fell behind 13-10 in the first quarter and trailed 24-16 at halftime. Sisters pulled away in the third quarter to lead 44-30.
“Sisters is a good team,” Emmert said. “We beat them at home. We had a good shot.”
But it was the Outlaws senior night, which gives some momentum to a home team, and the Huskies looked sluggish after their bout with Cascade, Emmert said.
Tyler and Swanson led the Huskies with eight points each. Jack Berg led Sisters with 21.
Sweet Home 10 6 14 5 – 35
Sisters 13 11 20 11 – 55
Sweet Home scoring: Tyler 8, Swanson 8, Tow 6, Coulter 6, Smith 3, Korn 2, Luttmer 2, Zanona, Virtue, Austen Miller, Gaskey.
Sisters scoring: Jack Berg 21, Anderson 16, Richards 7, Waddell 5, Carhart 2, Eagan 2, Nicklous 2, Weber, Chapen, Petterson, Scholl, Jones.
Girls lose two
The girls basketball team lost to Cascade 51-18 Feb. 12 and Sisters 43-23 Friday on the road. They were scheduled to play against Newport at home Tuesday evening, to end their season.