Blanchet Catholic 61,
Sweet Home 46
Blanchet Catholic took advantage of a weak early defense Friday night in Sweet Home to build a big early lead against the Huskies in boys basketball.
Blanchet led 22-8 after the first quarter and 36-18 at halftime. The Huskies were able to get within 14 during the third quarter but that run evaporated. At the end of three quarters, Blanchet led 53-31. The Huskies made another run in the fourth.
“I think there were about four minutes left in the fourth quarter, and we were within 14,” said Coach Tim Porter. The Huskies had possession and tried a three.
“As with most of our threes that night, it didn’t go in, and that was pretty much the end of it,” Porter said. The Huskies shot just 3-14 from behind the arc, where they are usually much better.
Early on, “we were playing bad defense to be honest,” Porter said. “I was really disappointed in our defense. We’re normally so much better than what we showed.”
Defense was key since the Huskies weren’t hitting their shots, he said. “If you’re not hitting shots, you’d better play better defense, and we didn’t do that.”
The players’ goal is to hold their opponents to 45 points per game, Porter said. Had they done that, they would have been trailing just 22-18 at halftime, a four-point game.
The Huskies were 1-8 Friday night. They were scheduled to face Stayton at home Tuesday night and will start league at Junction City on Jan. 21. They are scheduled to play at Sisters on Jan. 24.
Going into league, “I think we’re OK,” Porter said. “Obviously, you don’t want to have these margins getting close to league.”
But the Huskies have played a tough pre-league schedule, including 5A and 6A schools and tough 4A programs, and they lost some Porter thinks they should have won, including a three-point loss to Molalla to open the season.
Many of those teams have big players, and he thinks the Huskies, who are small and quick, will match up better against their league schools.
“I think we’re going to be fine,” Porter said. “I believe these guys can do it.”
Blanchet 22 14 17 8 – 61
Sweet Home 8 10 13 13 – 46
Blanchet scoring: Patrick Counts 27, Howard 17, Ruiz 7, Bartholomew 2, Beskow, Scanlan, Plata, Handran.
Sweet Home scoring: Hunter Jutte 18, Grant Kauffman 12, Bryce Daniels 7, Chace Hutchins 4, Tyler Funk 3, Kyle Rose 2, Daniel Virtue, Tucker Porter, Justin Tow, Tyler Plebuch, Kobe Galster.
Philomath 77, Sweet Home 47
Ben DeSaulnier turned in 40 points to lead Philomath to a 77-47 win over the Huskies on Jan. 7 at Philomath.
“He was something else,” Porter said. “It was actually kind of fun to watch. He was that good. Nothing we did was effective.”
DeSaulnier, a senior, averages twice as many points per game as any of his teammates, Porter said. “We didn’t have an answer for him. That was the main problem.”
Out of the teams the Huskies have seen so far, Philomath is the best, Porter said, and the Warriors should be state contenders.
Philomath led 21-8 after a quarter and 40-28 at halftime. By the end of the third quarter, Philomath led 58-40.
Sweet Home 8 20 12 7 – 47
Philomath 21 19 18 19 – 77
Sweet Home scoring: Daniels 21, Jutte 9, Kauffman 8, Funk 5, Hutchins 3, Plebuch 1, Porter, Tow, Rose, Galster.
Philomath scoring: Ben DeSaulnier 40, K. Bennett 11, Noble 10, Marchant 7, Chambers 4, S. Bennett 2, Budingh 2, Echer 1, Lehman, Rhodes, Larson.