Sweet
Home snapped a nine-game losing streak last week by defeating
Junction City 58-55 on Feb. 11, La Pine 80-69 on Feb. 12 and Sisters
48-35 on Friday, all at home.
The
Huskies lost the first four games in league play and were last in the
standings at 0-4. With the wins, the Huskies are tied with Elmira
with a record of 3-4, ahead of La Pine, 2-5, and Sisters, 1-6, and
behind Junction City, 5-2, and Cottage Grove, 7-0.
Friday
night, the Huskies and Sisters played closely through the first half,
with Sisters ahead 10-7 after a quarter and Sweet home ahead 23-21 at
halftime.
The
Huskies defense held the Outlaws to just four in the third quarter,
while the Huskies added 13.
Hunter
Jutte led Huskies scoring with 17 points, and Grant Kauffman added
another 16, while Justin Harer led Sisters scoring with 14 points.
“We’re
feeling pretty good,” said Coach Tim Porter. “We’ve been
playing a little bit better defense.”
The
Huskies have been playing with more confidence too, he said, but the
reality is that the breaks in tossup games hadn’t been going Sweet
Home’s way.
Their
first tangle with Junction City was a three-point loss, and the last
week it was a three-point win.
That
said, the Huskies have improved some, Porter said, but in the toss-up
games, they just weren’t winning them in the beginning of the
season.
“We’re
getting those and the games we think we should be winning too,”
Porter said. They’ll keep concentrating on what’s working.
“We
know we’re a small team, so we have to rely on our defense to keep
us in games,” Porter said. “We don’t have a dominant post we
can rely on.”
Against
La Pine, the Huskies trailed early, 22-11, but they shot back in the
second quarter to lead 38-37 at halftime. They turned in another
27-point quarter in the third to lead 64-54. Jutte scored 24 and
Kauffman scored 22 to lead the Huskies, while Taylor Brown led La
Pine with 19.
The
Huskies led 13-9 after one quarter against Junction City and held on
for a 28-24 halftime lead. The Huskies led 43-37 at the end of the
third. Jutte led scoring with 31, and Devon Lock led Junction City
with 18.
With
the tie for third, the Huskies have a shot at making the play-in
round of the state tournament. Elmira and Sweet Home each have three
games left, once against each other, Friday night in Sweet Home.
At
this point, it’s the most important game of the season, Porter
said, although Monday night’s contest against La Pine could become
more important depending on how Sweet Home and Elmira fare this week.
Even
beating Elmira, the Huskies may still have to win the La Pine game as
well, Porter said.
Last
time around, the Huskies lost at Elmira 65-45. They lost 64-53 to
Cottage Grove.
Sisters
10 11 4 10 – 35
Sweet
Home 7 16 13 12 – 48
Sisters
scoring: Justin Harrer 14, Martinez 12, Schaab 4, Kapping 2, Larson
2, Adams 1, Gill, Gladden, Moore, Lewis, Johnson, Stadeli.
Sweet
Home scoring: Hunter Jutte 17, Grant Kauffman 16, Bryce Daniels 8,
Tyler Funk 7, Ryan Adams 3, Kobe Galster 1, Chace Hutchins.
La
Pine 22 15 16 16 – 69
Sweet
Home 11 27 27 15 – 80
La
Pine scoring: Taylor Brown 19, Wieber 15, Smith 12, Ramirez 11,
Turnsplenty 10, Johnson 2, Lewandowski, Tyalor, Ferns.
Sweet
Home scoring: Jutte 24, Kauffman 22, Daniels 16, Funk 7, Kyle Rose 6,
Adams 6, Galster 2, Hutchins.
Junction
City 9 15 13 18 – 55
Sweet
Home 13 15 15 15 – 58
Junction
City scoring: Devon Locke 18, Van Ras 14, Galt 8, Hutchinson 7,
Osburn 6, Brown 2, Gibson, raffin.
Sweet
Home scoring: Jutte 31, Kauffman 15, Daniels 6, Rose 4, Adams 2,
Funk, Hutchins.