Sean C. Morgan
Of The New Era
The Husky boys basketball team had a rough but promising week with losses on the road to Cottage Grove 50-49 on Dec. 6 and Elmira 60-49 on Dec. 7, then another at home to Lebanon Monday, Dec. 12.
Sweet Home 50, Cottage Grove 49
“Cottage Grove came out on us tough,” Little said. “They always do. They tend to fall apart around the middle of the third quarter, and we took advantage of it.”
Brandon Weist stepped up in the second half to spark the Husky offense, Little said, and the team made some adjustments at halftime to improve its second-half defense.
“But you know, you’re on the road, it’s always tough, especially when they’re a solid team,” Little said. With seven seconds left, Cottage Grove drew a foul and went to the line, scoring two to win the game.
Cottage Grove led 12-10 after the first quarter and then spread the lead to 23-16 at halftime. The Huskies trailed just 35-34 after the end of the third.
Weist led Husky scoring with 13 points. Cody Shipp and Charlie Fitzsimons each added 10 points; Ryan Elliott and Tim Faulconer, six; and Anthony Hoffman, four.
Bryant Sentman led Cottage Grove with 16 points, Little said, noting that Sentman is a real athlete and “can jump out of the gym.”
The Huskies’ half-time defensive adjustment concentrated on shutting him down, Little said. “We made some adjustments and slowed him down. He got really frustrated the second half.”
The Huskies held Sentman to just onepoint on the second half. Seth Hutchison added 15 points to help Cottage Grove out.
The Husky defense also came up with 13 steals on the night.
“I think that’s (Cottage Grove) the first time all year we’ve come out and played our potential,” point guard Cody Shipp said. “I think if we can play to our potential all the time, we’ll be pretty successful this year.”
Elmira 60, Sweet Home 49
On Wednesday, Elmira jumped out to a 23-14 lead in the first quarter and expanded that to a 33-20 lead by halftime. That lead grew to 44-27 by the end of the third quarter, but the Huskies cut the lead to 11 by the end of the game.
“We just lacked some intensity,” Little swid. “We looked tired from the night before when we played our guts out to lose by one.”
Elliott led Husky scoring with 15 points. Shipp added 11; Gabe Kauffman, 10; Brandon Smith, six; Weist, three; Fitzsimons, two; and Nathan Whitfield two. Tyler Dragt scored 21 to lead Elmira to the win.
Kauffman shot 9-10 from the foul line, and carries an 88-percent free-throw shooting average.
His goal is to shoot 10 times a game from the foul line, Little said. “He gets underneath and draws a foul and makes his living at the free-throw line.”
Overall, Little was pleased with his team last week.
“To lose in the last seven seconds by a ref’s call when we had a lead, we felt, was a positive,” Little said. “We got down quick with Elmira. For this group, we have to be able to play with intensity to battle inside with our size.”
The Huskies’ goal is to give up only 11 points per quarter, Little said. Allowing Elmira 23 points in the first quarter, more than the Huskies’ goal for a half, “defensively just took the air right out of us.”
Pointing to the Cottage Grove game, “It was the first time this season that we made adjustments at halftime and we actually came out and made the adjustments,” Little said. “That was a good positive step.”
“Our bench players stepped up in both games,” Little said. Weist stepped up on Tuesday night and Gabe Kauffman on Wednesday sparking the Huskies’ offense. Little also praised Elliott’s performance.
Lebanon 54, Sweet Home 47
Lebanon got off to a fast start, running out to a 19-6 first-quarter lead and maintaining that lead for most of the first half, leading 26-15 at halftime.
But after a stumbling start in the third quarter for Sweet Home, Coach Tim Little called time out and the Huskies began to battle, playing aggressive defense that created turnovers and helped them cut the Warriors’ lead to seven by the end of the third quarter, 41-34.
Lebanon pulled away again in the fourth quarter as the Huskies started to foul to send the Warriors to the free-throw line.
The Huskies will need to improve on their offensive execution, Little said. “That’s why we play preseason, to work out the kinks.
“Both (Cottage Grove and Elmira) games we had slow starts,” Shipp said. “‘But we finished well.”
The team needs to work on keeping the tempo up right from the start and not deciding to really play after the Huskies realize they are losing, Shipp said.
“It’s frustrating to us right now,” Little said. “We’ve had four games and one practice, and we have three games this week.”
The Huskies are seeing what they need to do to improve, Little said. They just aren’t getting a chance to work it out in the gym, and the problems keep resurfacing game to game.
The Huskies hold a 2-4 record, but with a 23-game schedule up to the state playoffs, the season is still young, and the Huskies are looking forward to getting into the gym over Christmas break, Little said. “These games don’t really matter. What matters is when we get to league.”