By Keeghan Gittins
For The New Era
Sweet Home boys basketball is heading into the new season with a roster of players who have seen the varsity floor before.
They’re a young team – the only seniors are Alex Bachand and Trenton Templin, but the rest of the team – six juniors and four sophomores, some of whom might swing, bring experience from a difficult 2024-25 season.
“That experience will help us a lot this year as we bring back most of our team,” said Coach Drew Emmert.
The Huskies went 3-21 overall and 0-10 in league last season while facing a tough schedule and trying to score against strong defenses. With so many young players on the court, the team struggled to find consistency.
“Last season we were extremely young with a tough schedule,” Emmert said.
Things look different this time around. Sweet Home returns nine varsity players, including three starters in guards Bradyn McClure, a junior, and sophomore Mason Tyler, plus junior forward Kellen Hartsook. They’ll be joined in the starting lineup by juniors Trent Harvey and Daniel McCubbins.
This year, they opened the season on Wednesday, Dec. 3, at home with a very competitive and close game against 3A Division Elmira, tying things up at halftime after a slow start before finally losing by a basket, 44-42. The Falcons are expected to move back to the 4A Division next year.
Other returning varsity players include juniors Kaeson Walker and Gavin Tyler, while sophomores Sam Barringer, Kyler Bondesen and Damon Lawrence move up from last year’s JV, giving the team more depth.
Junior Varsity players are Barringer and Bondeson, who will swing, juniors Kyle Hagle, Gage Pettner and Noah Valdez, and sophomores Zeplin Berg, Evan Knight, Felix Lopez, Owen Nicholson and Russell Schroeder.
The Junior Varsity 2 roster is made up of freshmen Luke Adams, Jackson Burke, Ryder Cummings, Gavin Duran, Mason Flores, Brytin Greer, Max Lopez, Ayden Marin, Hunter McClure, Landon Messmer, Bryson Mumford, Gunnar Stafford, Landon Thomson and Marcus Warthen.
Sweet Home has lost three seniors to graduation – Josh Aker, Jason Funk and Conner Pace – Aker and Pace both three-year starters; but the amount of experience coming back has the coaching staff feeling confident. The team also played a lot of games throughout the spring and summer, giving players extra time to grow and improve.
“Our guys played a lot of games last spring and summer, and we are hoping to be very competitive this year… Our goal is to make a playoff game,” Emmert said.
With an older, more familiar group on the floor, the Huskies hope all that practice and hard work leads to a much stronger season.
They played well in their opener against Elmira Dec. 3, losing 44-42 in the final minutes of the last quarter.
“I felt we dropped that one,” Emmert said. The Huskies used tough D to beat Phoenix on the road 45-33, then lost at Douglas, a team that Emmert said could be in the playoffs, 53-35 less than 24 hours later, folding under defensive pressure.
“We didn’t come out ready to play and although we were only down three going into the final quarter, they had a big run.”
The Oregon West Conference remains one of the most competitive leagues in the state, he said, but there may be more parity this year.
“We’ve played in the best league in the state the last five years or longer than that, but this year it’s little more up in the air,” he said. Cascade, which was seeded No. 1 in last year’s state playoffs and finished third, losing in the semifinals to eventual champion Baker, saw significant departures to graduation and both Stayton and North Marion also saw departures on Graduation Day.
“I think we should fit into the mix,” Emmert said. “I don’t think there’s a team in the league that will be as dominant.”
