The North Marion varsity basketball team snatched a game away from Sweet Home, winning 63-59, from the Huskies in the final minutes of a game Dec. 4.
The Huskies went on to win the Les Schwab Eagle Booster Classic in Harrisburg Dec. 6 – 8, beating Sutherlin 45-44 in overtime, Baker 54-46 and Pleasant Hill 63-60 in overtime. Every team the Huskies faced won all of their games except against Sweet Home.
After North Marion slipped away from the Huskies, Casey Tow sank a three on the buzzer to get into overtime against Sutherlin.
“We didn’t finish well against North Marion,” he said. “We finished well the last three games.”
Against North Marion, the hosts jumped out to a 24-17 lead after a quarter. By halftime, North Marion was close, trailing 34-30. The Huskies led 52-42 going into the final quarter, while North Marion went on a 21-7 run to steal the game.
“We just didn’t play good at the end,” said Coach Drew Emmert. “That North Marion game, we’d love to take it back. The last five minutes we played was the worst of our season. The last two minutes, we shot ourselves in the foot.”
Jake Swanson fouled out, and “that didn’t help the situation,” Emmert said. “Everything that could’ve went not our way did. At the end of the day, we just didn’t close the game like we should’ve.”
North Marion sank 40 points at the charity stripe, while Sweet Home scored just 11, and the Huskies turned the ball over a lot, Emmert said.
It was the team’s first game without Nate Virtue, who broke his hand in a game two weeks ago, Emmert said. By the end of the game, Sweet Home was playing with one senior on the floor.
“After that, you either feel sorry about yourself or you learn from it,” Emmert said, and the Huskies went on to win their first game against Sutherlin in at least five years.
Against North Marion, Colton Smith led scoring with 14 points. Tow added 11; Hunter Coulter 10; Zach Luttmer, eight; Swanson eight; Jasper Korn, four; Zach Zanona, two; and Cade Gaskey, two. Aiden Tyler played but did not score.
Sergio Jimenez led scoring for North Marion with 16 points. Brandy Hansen added 15, and Griffin Henry contributed 14.
Moving to the tournament, “all of those games were down to the wire,” Emmert said. “Two of them we won in overtime. We’re playing fast, and we’re playing a lot of guys. That’s really showing at the end of games, when the other team is tired and we’re not.”
Against Sutherlin, the Huskies led 7-6 after the first quarter and trailed 21-18 at halftime. The Huskies took a 26-25 lead in the third quarter.
Coulter hadn’t played in the fourth quarter, Emmert said. He went back in the last 40 seconds of overtime and sank the winning bucket.
Tow led the Huskies with 13 points; Swanson, 12; Smith, eight; Tyler, five; Coulter, four; Luttmer, two; and Gaskey, one. Korn played but did not score. Mason Gill led Sutherlin with 15 points.
The Huskies led 17-15 after one quarter. They trailed 29-22 at halftime and took a 33-32 lead in the third quarter before finishing off Baker.
Tow led the Huskies with 15; Smith, 13; Luttmer, 10; Swanson, eight; Tyler four; Coulter, four. Zanona and Korn played but did not score. Caden Long and Kaden Sand led Baker with 14 each.
Moving to the championship, the Huskies trailed 14-10 in the first quarter against Pleasant Hill. Pleasant Hill led 27-19 at halftime. The Huskies rallied in the third, leading 44-40.
Behind at the end of the quarter, Smith scored on the buzzer to take the game to overtime.
Tow led Sweet Home with 17 points; Coulter, 14; Luttmer, nine; Swanson, eight; Tyler, seven; Smith, seven; Zanona, two; and Korn, one. Gaskey played but did not score.
Steven Parmenter led Pleasant Hill with 27, Emmert said. Luttmer guarded him well that game and just missed a double double, scoring nine and pulling down 10 rebounds.
“It was a good weekend for us, but our league is really good,” Emmert said. “We’re just trying to prepare for that.”
Going into this week, Oregon West Conference teams are 21-6 in non-league play. Five are in the top 10 in early OSAA rankings, with Sweet Home third in the state, Stayton fourth; Sisters fifth; Woodburn sixth; and Newport ninth. Cascade and Philomath are ranked 14th and 15th respectively.
Among leagues with overall winning records, Cowapa teams are 10-8, while Skyline teams are 15-11. Greater Oregon is 10-9.
The girls basketball team lost three games at the Les Schwab tournament, 67-31 to Sutherlin, 51-30 to Harrisburg and 40-25 to Samuel Robertson High School of Washington.
The boys and girls were scheduled to host Scio Tuesday, and the boys will host Tillamook at 7 p.m. Wednesday.
The boys travel to Molalla at 7 p.m. on Dec. 17 and Elmira at 7:15 p.m. on Dec. 18. They host Central Linn at 7 p.m. on Dec. 19.
The girls will travel to Tillamook Friday and Elmira Tuesday. They host Central Linn at 5:30 p.m. on Dec. 19.