Are the Sweet Home boys basketball players having a flashback to 2013-14 season?
Coming into last week at 2-14, the boys won three times, picking up their second league win and the first in the back half of league play against Junction City, now ranked seventh in the state.
The Huskies beat the Tigers 51-46 on the road Thursday.
“We played a lot better this week,” said Coach Drew Emmert. “We’re starting to figure some things out.”
Junction City is in the hunt for league champion right now and was ranked sixth in the state when the Huskies faced the team.
“Pretty much, right now, we’re going for that third spot,” Emmert said. Depending on how others do the rest of the season, his team will need to win three of its next four games, against Sutherlin, Sisters, Elmira and sixth-ranked Cottage Grove.
The Huskies trailed Junction City 13-9 after the first quarterand 28-24 at halftime. Sweet Home closed the lead in the third, trailing 42-40, before overtaking Junction City for good in the fourth quarter.
“We just put a full game together,” Emmert said. “We played hard. Defensively, we were outstanding. Down the stretch, we just had big stop after big stop. It was crazy.”
Tyler Plebuch shot a pair of free throws at the end to give the Huskies a four-point lead and seal the win. Justin Tow didn’t miss a field goal all night, whiffing just a single free throw on his way to a 16-point night. The Huskies held Junction City to a single field goal in the fourth quarter.
Emmert said the Tigers, with their strong transition game, may have overlooked the Huskies, especially as they got down by 11 in the second quarter.
But this game, the Huskies didn’t hang their heads, Emmert said. They played confidently, stuck to the game plan and went the distance.
The Huskies held Hayden Martinez to nine points in the game, Emmert said. He’s the league’s front runner for player of the year, and he scored 22 on the Huskies the first time the two teams met this year.
The Huskies, 2-4 in league and 5-14 overall, were scheduled to host Sutherlin on Tuesday. They travel to Sisters on Friday and host Elmira on Feb. 16.
Sweet Home 9 15 16 11 – 51
Junction City 13 15 14 6 – 46
Sweet Home scoring: Justin Tow 16, Daniel Virtue 11, Tyler Plebuch 10, Justin Carpenter 10, Keanu Aiona 4, Logan Kline, Jake Bangot.
Junction City scoring: Brandon Land 15, H. Martinez 9, Hutchinson 8, Osburn 7, Potter 6, McClintock 2, Vandenberghe, K. Martinez.
Sweet Home blew out an opponent for the first time this year when they demolished Illinois Valley 50-24 at home on Saturday.
The Huskies have typically played to their opponent’s level this year, Emmert said, and they didn’t Saturday.
“We were a little slow at the beginning,” he said. His team played good defense, which feeds the offense, but the Huskies weren’t perfect by any means.
The Huskies led 16-9 after the first quarter and 27-16 at halftime. The Huskies led 43-22 after three quarters.
Sweet Home 16 11 16 7 – 50
Illinois Valley 9 7 6 2 – 24
Sweet Home scoring: Tow 12, Aiona 10, Kline 6, Carpenter 5, Virtue 4, Bangot 4, Keegan Holly 4, Plebuch 3, Jesus Patricio 2, Tristan Graham, Nick Rodgers, Nick Marler.
Illinois Valley scoring: Trent Jensen 10, Bruner 7, Davis 4, Hess 3, Brummett, Box.
In a low-scoring outing, the Huskies slipped by Siuslaw 32-30 on the road on Feb. 2.
Sweet Home led just 6-4 after the first quarter and trailed 12-10 at halftime. The teans picked up the pace a bit in the second half as Siuslaw expanded its lead by a point to 25-22.
The Huskies brought a defensive stand in the fourth that led to points on the board while holding Siuslaw to just five points.
Sweet Home 6 4 12 10 – 32
Siuslaw 4 8 13 5 – 30
Sweet Home scoring: Bangot 11, Virtue 8, Carpenter 6, Aiona 4, Plebuch 3, Tow, Kline, Holly.
Siuslaw scoring: Trent Reavis 11, Mitchell 7, Hickson 5, Brandt 5, Siegel 2, Gordon, Cornish, Thrall.