Sweet Home 67
Elmira 52
The Sweet Home High School boys basketball team repelled two Elmira offensives Thursday night at home to win its opening game 67-52.
“You always want to win the first one,” Coach Risen said. “Especially when you’ve got four guys starting that have never started before.”
The Huskies were tight heading into the game, but they soon loosened up and made a couple of runs, which were answered by Elmira.
The Huskies ended the first quarter spreading an 18-11 lead. Elmira almost caught the Huskies during the second before the Huskies opened a six point margin, 28-22, at halftime. Elmira trailed 42-37 at the end of the third.
With 5:21 left on the clock in the fourth quarter, Elmira closed the gap to a single point. This time the Huskies had four players, three of them starters, on the bench with four fouls each. The Huskies called a timeout and blew the game open.
Coach Risen called it the “same old Husky basketball.”
The boys played tough defense and ran an unselfish offense, attested by a matching 26 assists and 26 baskets.
“We’ve got lots of things to work on,” Coach Risen said. “It’s early.”
Leading the Huskies in scoring was Nik Walker, who also added eight assists and four steals. Aaron Hegge added 10 points with 10 rebounds and three blocks. Jake Gaskey scored 12 for the Huskies, adding seven rebounds. Wes Smith, who is nearly recovered from surgery, scored 10 points. Josh Bondesen scored nine points with five assists. Matt Matuszak scored five points. Kevin Furry scored four with six assists. Sam Posthuma scored two points.
The Husky attack was balanced, Coach Risen said, rebounds, assists and scoring coming from across the board, “which means team, team, team,” what the program preaches all week long in practice.
“I told the kids after the game, ‘Same program, different year,’” Coach Risen said. When the Huskies’ lead was down to one at 5:21, “it was gut check time.”
The Huskies stuck with it, playing hard Husky basketball and “laying it on the line,” to seal the win, Coach Risen said. “I’m just really proud of the courage that they portray all of the time.”
Coach Risen noted Matuszak’s contribution to the win.
Matuszak “came through big,” Coach Risen said. He has a specific job on the team. “His job is to come in and change the game.”
Matuszak did just that, Coach Risen said. “Coach Little and I talked and we felt like if we didn’t have Matt on that night, we wouldn’t have won that game.”
Matuszak went in, hit free throws, sparked the offense and played good defense, Coach Risen said. “In the situation we were in, Matt came out big. We want him to come into the game and just be really aggressive on both ends of the floor. His job is basically come into the game and go for it. We put him in that role…. So far, so good.”
“I came in a little tight because it was my first game with a big role in varsity,” Matuszak said. He just did the things he learned in practice the best he could. “I was happy with the way the team stepped up when we needed to and played well when we needed to down the stretch.”
When it came down to closing out the game, “I think the difference was that we were the better-conditioned team,” Matuszak said. “It showed down the stretch that we were smarter … that we were the better team and put everything together.”
As far as his own performance, Matuszak said, “I was pretty happy with it. It was pretty much what I expected it to be. I think I adjusted to it well.
As long as the team keeps working hard — And they are — the Huskies will do well, Matuszak said. “I think it’s going to be a fun season.”
Hegge played another role the Huskies needed Thursday night, Coach Risen said, and it was “really fun” to watch Furry and Walker playing off of each other.
The two feed off of each other, Coach Risen said. “You could really see that during the run at the end.”
Jake Gaskey ran point on the press and was all over the floor, Coach Risen said, so much so that Coach Risen thought he might pass out, but “he didn’t bat an eye. The guy’s just a warrior. He didn’t even think twice about it.”
The junior varsity team lost 57-53 after trailing 26-25 at halftime. Tim Matuszak, Carey Hintze, Kylan Walker and Aaron Hegge each scored eight points in the game.
The freshmen won 54-43 after being down 19-11 at halftime. Leading scorer was Ricky Howe with 13 points and 10 rebounds. Mike Severns scored 10 points, and Anthony Mink had nine points.
The Huskies play next at Creswell on Friday. Games start at 6 p.m.