In search of a win to end a long losing streak, Sweet Home came up short Thursday, Feb. 9, falling 54-43 at Newport in Class 4A Oregon West Conference boys basketball action.
Sweet Home (1-20) was up 30-26 at halftime, but a scoreless third quarter dropped the Huskies to a 36-30 deficit going into the final frame.
“I thought we played really well in the first half,” head coach Drew Emmert said, noting that all 13 of junior Collin Nicholson’s points were made then.
However, foul trouble benched junior Vegas Mauer, the Huskies’ primary ball handler, and the Cubs subsequently pressed.
“We just struggled in the third quarter,” Emmert said. “We still defended OK, but we struggled to not turn the ball over. We ended up not scoring in the third quarter, which obviously makes it tough.”
Overall, he said, “I thought we played really hard and gave ourselves a shot. That third quarter is what hurt us. We just had one really bad quarter, and it’s hard to win road games doing that.”
Despite the loss, Sweet Home outshot Newport (2-6 in league, 8-14 overall) from the field, 47.1% to 35.6%. But the Huskies turned the ball over 21 times while only forcing eight.
Junior Nathan Aker led Sweet Home with 14 points on 5-8 shooting. Nicholson shot 4-8 from the field on the way to his 13. Junior Ethan Delibertis had eight points on 4-6 shooting.
Sweet Home also fell 53-20 to OSAA’s top-ranked Philomath (7-1 in league, 18-2 overall) on Monday, Feb. 13, dropping to 0-8 in league play. (See enclosed photos; game details were not available at press time.)
The Huskies host North Marion (14-6) on senior night at 5:30 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 16. They then travel to Stayton (14-6, No. 8) to wrap the season at 5:30 p.m. Monday, Feb. 20.