On Tuesday, 2/22/2022, the Sweet Home boys basketball team went 2-22 on the season with a 67-27 home loss against Cascade.
The loss ensured that the end of the Huskies’ season would be notable for a statistical anomaly, if not for many wins. That’s a lot of two’s.
While Head Coach Drew Emmert didn’t say anything about the unlikely repetition of numbers, he did shine a light on some positive takeaways from a tough season for Sweet Home on the court.
“Our kids played hard, and we got better the whole season,” Emmert said. “We stuck together, our seniors [Eddie Martinez and Russ Holly] led, and we became better people. We set ourselves up well for the next few years.
“Obviously, the win and loss record doesn’t meet our program’s standards. We’re young, and it was going to be a hard year to get a lot of wins. But we learned from it.”
The Huskies were stretched thin in varsity experience this winter after they lost 10 players from last year’s team to graduation.
Hosting Cascade (18-3, 11-1) in the season finale, Sweet Home was down 37-13 at halftime. The Huskies shot 26.3% from the field in the game compared to the Cougars’ 45.6%. Sweet Home turned the ball over 12 times while only forcing five.
“They are so much bigger than we are,” Emmert said of Cascade. “It’s not a very good matchup for us. We played hard, but we were a little outmatched against them. They shot really well, while we didn’t.”
The seniors led the team in scoring in their final game. Holly scored 10 points on 3-for-11 shooting from the field, going 2-for-5 from three-point range. Martinez scored seven points on 3-for-6 shooting, going 1-for-4 on threes.
Looking into the future, Emmert said his team is now more aware of what it will take to compete in the 4A-3 Oregon West Conference, after the Huskies were unable to secure a victory in 12 league games this season.
“A lot of our kids realize how much they need to be in the gym and work on their game,” the coach said.
He added that less restrictive COVID-19 regulations compared to last offseason could allow his team to have a more “normal” summer training schedule going into next year. Looking ahead, Emmert said “We could have a good year.”