Madras High School ran up a score on the Huskies on their home court Thursday night in varsity boys basketball, but 76 points wasn’t enough as the Huskies racked up 90.
The game started out fairly normal as the Huskies were edging out Madras 15-13 after one quarter.
Then the Huskies turned it on, outscoring Madras 23-13 to lead 38-23 at halftime.
Both teams scored 25 in the third quarter, with the Huskies leading 63-48, with Hayden Nichol hitting a three-pointer on the buzzer. Madras got within 10 during the third quarter.
The Huskies added another 27 in the fourth quarter, while Madras scored just 25.
“That was kind of a crazy game,” said Coach Drew Emmert. Madras pressed all game, subbing five at a time every two minutes. “It’s kind of hard to play against it.”
The Huskies handled the pressure enough to win it though, he said. Defensively, “we were good enough. It’s hard to play when they shoot that quickly.”
Madras passed the ball once or twice and then put it up, he said. The Huskies contained Madras’ three-point shot, giving up just one of more than 20 attempts in the last 30 seconds of the game.
“They’re just a high-tempo team,” Emmert said. “You always had to be ready.”
It was a test of his team’s conditioning, Emmert said. “I think we did pretty well.”
To prepare, Emmert said, the team practiced with a five-man team breaking a six-man press.
“We mentally prepared for it so we weren’t surprised when we saw it,” Emmert said.
Four players scored double digits on the game. Keegan Holly led with 21 points. Jake Swanson scored 19; Hayden Nichol, 17; and Nate Virtue, 14.
The Huskies lost to Philomath 59-44 on the road Friday during an extra game.
The Huskies did all right during the first half, Emmert said, and then didn’t play great in the third quarter.
“Then the fourth quarter, we just ran out of gas,” he said. Philomath put on a 1-3-1 trap, and “we didn’t handle that well.”
The Huskies are 5-5 overall. They next play in a tournament at Stayton Wednesday through Friday.
Madras 13 13 25 25 – 76
Sweet Home 15 23 25 27 – 90
Madras scoring: Kanim Smith III 26, Miller 10, Lockey 10, Patt 8, Reese 6, Bagley 5, Grote 5, Fine 2, Thurby 2, Herkshan 2.
Sweet Home scoring: Keegan Holly, 21, Jake Swanson 19, Hayden Nichol 19, Nate Virtue 14, Colton Smith 7, Casey Tow 6, Andrew Freitag 4, Zach Zanona 2.