Sean C. Morgan
After a neck-and-neck struggle down the stretch, the Roosevelt Roughriders defeated the Huskies 63-56 in the first round of state, held Friday night at Roosevelt High School in Portland.
“I felt like we had some opportunities to win that one,” said Coach Kostanty Knurowski of the season-ending game.
Roosevelt nailed back-to-back threes and a field goal to build an 8-4 halfway through the first quarter. The Roughriders edged that lead up, 11-4. Gavin Kauffman closed that gap with a three followed by a three-point play, 11-10.
Battling through a full-court press, the teams traded baskets, but against Roosevelt’s press, the Huskies were trailing 21-14 by the end of the first quarter.
“I thought they came out and shot the ball pretty well,” Knurowski said. “We didn’t handle their press very well initially.”
The Huskies were quickly in foul trouble, he said, but Roosevelt missed quite a few foul shots in the first half, helping keep the Huskies in the game.
“The first half was kind of tough,” Knurowski said. “We didn’t box out well. We gave up a lot of second and third opportunities.”
Kauffman assisted Jeremy White for a bucket to start the second quarter and then hit a layup off a Roosevelt turnover to get within three points. Cody Felkins closed out the half hitting one foul shot. The Huskies trailed 28-25 at halftime.
“We figured out their press and defensively we were able to get some stops,” Knurowski said of the second quarter. That kept the Huskies in striking distance.
Roosevelt pushed its lead back up again at the beginning of the second half. Kauffman hit a three and another shot near the top of the key to close the lead again.
Ahead 39-36, Roosevelt missed a three attempt on the third-quarter buzzer. Robert Rubidoux hit a three out of the gate in the fourth quarter to tie the game 39-39.
With Kauffman, Taylor Mauch and Dallas Morgan all in foul trouble, the Huskies managed to keep the game at a tie until about three minutes left. Rubidoux drew a foul from Riley Charlish. Rubidoux hit both foul shots to take the Huskies ahead 47-45.
Roosevelt recaptured the lead, but with about 1:41 left, Jomarri Gable fouled Kauffman. Kauffman hit both free throws to tie the game 51-51.
Antonio McCowan hit a three for the Roughriders 20 seconds later to take a 54-51 lead. Kauffman missed a three in response, and Brice Vandenberg sent Joe Morales to the line to hit a pair of foul shots and extend the Roosevelt lead to 56-51.
Gable fouled Kauffman on a three and fouled out of the game, joining Charlish on the bench. Kauffman hit 2-3 at the line to close the margin, 56-53.
With 38 seconds left, Vandenberg sent Morales to the line again, and the Huskies trailed 58-53. Morgan fouled out sending McCowan to the line. McCowan hit one of two to extend Roosevelt’s lead to 59-53.
Kauffman scored the last Husky bucket, hitting a three with 11 seconds left. The Huskies trailed 59-56.
At eight seconds, Paul Kim put Morales on the foul line, and Kauffman fouled McCowan and fouled out with four seconds left, with Roosevelt scoring its final four points with free throws.
“I thought that our bench guys came in and did a really great job keeping us in the ball game,” Knurowski said. Rubidoux had a great game, scoring 10. While the rest of the bench didn’t score, each of the players contributed.
The Huskies took the lead in the fourth, Knurowski said, but “we had a few defensive breakdowns. We allowed them to hit some shots.”
The Huskies gave up a wide open three, he said. Roosevelt drove more aggressively at the hoop, and the Huskies didn’t stop it.
“We thought we had a pretty good chance, but with these guys in foul trouble, we just had a hard time sustaining it,” Knurowski said. Kauffman, Mauch and Morgan, all starters, sat out far longer than usual, 15 to 20 minutes.
Overall, Knurowski has been pleased with the season.
“I thought this season was pretty good,” he said. With the talent the team lost last year, he thought it was good to see where the team ended up with its relative inexperience.
The Huskies had a lot of question marks going into the season, he said, but “I think the kids did a nice job this year. Obviously, we would’ve liked to have taken the next step, but I think we’ll look at this season with fondness.”
Sweet Home 14 11 11 20 – 56
Roosevelt 21 7 11 24 – 63
Sweet Home Scoring: Gavin Kauffman 31, Rubidoux 10, Felkins 7, Morgan 3, White 3, Mauch 2, Kim, Chris Webb, Nick Lloyd, Vandenberg, Kyle Winslow.
Roosevelt Scoring: Joe Morales 16, Archie 11, McCowan 10, Feliciano 10, Charlish 7, Gable 7, Knight 2, Bergstrom, Coleman, Ngo, Wilson.