Sweet Home lost 55-41 Wednesday, Feb. 6, at third-ranked Stayton in boys basketball.
Stayton went ahead early, leading 17-6 after one quarter and 28-10 at halftime. The Eagles led 37-24 at the end of the third quarter.
“We got it within 11 at the beginning of the fourth,” said Coach Drew Emmert. “They’re a good team. They’re as good as it gets.”
Stayton beat fourth-ranked Woodburn in their second matchup of the season; and early in the season, Stayton also beat top-ranked Seaside while losing to second-ranked Banks.
“We played them tough, a lot tougher than we did the first time,” Emmert said. “Obviously, you want to give yourself a chance at the end, but we didn’t do that.
“We still didn’t shoot the ball very well. We’re just missing some shots we were hitting early on.”
Hunter Coulter and Jake Swanson led Sweet Home scoring with 10 points each. Kaleb Anundi led Stayton with 22.
The Huskies were scheduled to travel to Cascade Tuesday and will travel to Sisters Friday. They host Newport at 7 p.m. on Feb. 19 in their final regular season game.
If league ended today, all seven Oregon West Conference Teams would qualify for the play-in round, Emmert said. Sweet Home must do well this week to hold onto that play-in spot.
“We’ve just got to make sure we force the turnovers and have a good pace,” Emmert said. While opponent press breaks and Sweet Home’s press are getting better, the Huskies need to be able to drop into their half-court game to get the press going and keep up the pace of the game.
Sweet Home 6 4 14 17 – 41
Stayton 17 11 9 18 – 55
Sweet Home scoring: Hunter Coulter 10, Jake Swanson 10, Aiden Tyler 7, Colton Smith 5, Nate Virtue 4, Casey Tow 3, Cade Gaskey 2, Zach Zanona, Jasper Korn, Zach Luttmer.
Stayton Scoring: Kaleb Anundi 22, Butler, 9, Nichol 9, Classen 8, Jenkins 6, C. Bischoff 1, Axmaker, Rash, Berning, Whieldon.