The Huskies lost 45-32 at home against Sisters on Feb. 10 and 48-27 at Elmira on Friday in boys basketball, eliminating playoff hopes.
The Huskies and Sisters dueled to an 8-8 stalemate in the first quarter before the Outlaws broke away in the second quarter.
Justin Harrer started things off in the second with a three, followed by a shot from Connor Schaab. Hunter Jutte scored a free throw halfway through the quarter to make the score 19-12, the last point for the Huskies before halftime when Sisters led 21-12.
Brycen Mitten scored a pair of shots to get within five, 21-16, of the Outlaws, but Sisters pulled away. Ryan Adams sank a three with a minute left in the third, but the Outlaws finished the quarter ahead 31-19.
Jutte hit a two- and three-pointer early in the fourth, followed by a shot from Adams to get within five again, 31-26, but Outlaw Tysen Gill put up the next two buckets to hold off a Husky rally.
“They’re a very controlled team,” said Coach Brandon Gaskey. “So when we make a run, they make good adjustments. They’ll only let that go for so long. We had our chances too, but they were a well-prepared team.”
Jutte led the Huskies with 17 points and six rebounds. Mitten pulled down another five of the Huskies’ 17 rebounds.
Gill led Sisters with 14 points and seven rebounds. Sisters pulled also recorded 17 rebounds.
While the Huskies shot 31.2 percent from the field, the Outlaws shot 53.8 percent.
After losing to Elmira, the Huskies are tied for fourth with Elmira. Both teams are 2-6 with two games left. They trail Sisters and Junction City, which are tied for second with a 6-2 record.
The Huskies were scheduled to face Cottage Grove on the road on Tuesday and host Junction City Friday night. Elmira was scheduled to play at Sisters Tuesday and host Cottage Grove on Friday.
Elmira defeated Cottage Grove 54-37 and lost to Sisters 57-46 earlier in the season.
The Huskies defeated Cottage Grove 67-43 and lost to junction City 40-32 earlier in the season.
Against Elmira, “we were doing fine in the first quarter,” Gaskey said.
Then Elmira began building a strong lead on a shot from Austin Smith to go ahead 8-5. By the end of the quarter, the Huskies trailed 14-6.
Elmira was making easy buckets, and the Huskies weren’t defending well, Gaskey said.
Elmira continued building a lead into the second quarter, stretching it to 21-10 with two minutes left in the half.
Elmira put up a box and one defense to double team Jutte, Gaskey said, which leaves an opening.
“We drew up some offensive plays to get these options available to our guys,” Gaskey said. “But our guys were not knocking down the shots.”
They had a hard time recognizing who was open, Gaskey said.
The Huskies closed the lead slightly, trailing 22-13 at halftime. A technical foul against assistant Coach Eric Plebuch as the Huskies snapped up a loose ball sat Gaskey down for the game. When a technical foul comes from the bench, the head coach is required to sit down except when calling a timeout.
Elmira piled it on in the third, taking a 31-13 lead in the first four minutes of the third quarter. Adams hit a bucket and Jutte hit a pair of free throws on a technical foul against Elmira’s Mikey Langer at the end of the quarter. The Huskies trailed 35-17.
“It just wasn’t our night,” Gaskey said. “We didn’t play well.”
Adams had a good game, Gaskey said.
He led the team with 9 points.
He shot 60 percent within the three-point line, but he was 1-9 from outside the line, dropping his overall percentage to 28.6. The team shot two-pointers at 28.6 percent and overall field goals at 16.7 percent.
The Huskies rebounded 23 times and stole the ball eight times. They turned it over eight times.
Elmira shot 43.2 percent from the field, 50 percent inside the three-point line and 12.5 percent outside on eight attempts. The Falcons pulled down 43 rebounds, stealing the ball five times and turning it over 11 times.
Taj Wilson and Gary Younce each scored nine points to lead the Falcons.
Sisters 8 13 10 14 – 45
Sweet Home 8 4 7 13 – 32
Sisters scoring: Tysen Gill 14, Moore 9, Schaab 9, Larson 6, Harrer 4, Greaney 3, Johnson, Schutte, Mackenzie, Gladden.
Sweet Home scoring: Hunter Jutte 17, Ryan Adams 9, Brycen Mitten 4, Justin Carpenter 1, Keanu Aiona 1, Daniel Virtue, Eric Burks, Kevin Seiber, Justin Tow, Jake Bangot, Kyler Gaskey, Andre Holmes.
Sweet Home 6 7 4 10 – 27
Elmira 14 8 13 13 – 48
Sweet Home scoring: Adams 9, Jutte 8, Gaskey 4, Tow 3, Mitten 2, Virtue 1, Burks, Carpenter, Seiber, Bangot, Holmes.
Elmira scoring: Taj Wilson 9, Gary Younce 9, Winters 6, Meyer 5, Smith 4, Brockman 4, Pedder 4, Finder 4, Cesany 3, Estrella, Langer.