The Sweet Home boys lost to Cascade 51-48 in overtime at home in basketball Feb. 18 and then beat Sisters 45-20 at home Friday evening.
Against Cascade, the Huskies had a rough time at the free thrown line, shooting just 12-24, while the Cougars sank 15-22 at the foul line.
“That killed us,” said Coach Drew Emmert. “We had a couple of key turnovers at the end. (Without them) we could’ve won in regulation. They hit a tough shot to go into overtime. Those are the easy things to point out.”
His team also needed to make a couple of more stops on defense, Emmert said, although the Sweet Home defense was good overall.
The game was tight the whole way, with the Huskies ahead 8-7 after the first quarter. The Cougars led 14-13 at halftime and extended their lead to 29-25 going into the fourth quarter. No one ever led by more than four points.
Sweet Home trailed 43-42 with a 1:35 left on the clock. Hunter Coulter drew a foul from Matt-Alex Raney and sank a pair of free throws to go ahead 44-43.
Carson Molan fouled Zach Luttmer, who sank the front end of a pair of free throws to give the Huskies a 45-43 edge with 40 seconds left on the clock
With four seconds left, Sweet Home knocked the ball out of bounds. Elijah Nolan sank an alley-oop on the inbound play to tie the game and send it into overtime.
In overtime, Casey Tow scored early to give Sweet Home a 47-45 lead. Luttmer hit another free throw after drawing a foul from Nolan to get ahead 48-45. Molan connected to bring the Cougars within a point, and with 55 seconds left , Carson Bischoff scored to give Cascade a 49-48 lead and the win.
The Huskies had the edge from the field, shooting 38 percent, while the Cougars shot 36 percent. Cascade controlled the boards, bringing down 39 rebounds, while the Huskies came up with 28.
The Huskies turned the ball over 16 times, while Cascade turned it over 19 times.
Coulter led Sweet Home scoring with 14 points. Luttmer added 13. Molan led the Cougars with 21 points.
Sweet Home was 5-6 headed into its final regular season game at Newport Tuesday evening. The Huskies were ranked 11th and fifth place in league behind Stayton, 6-5 and ranked 12th,
Post-season depends on the Newport game, Emmert said Monday. If the Huskies win it, they’ll have a play-in game at home Friday or Saturday. If they lose, Sweet Home might have to travel for a play-in match-up.
Most likely, the Huskies will face a team ranked 16th through 20th, Emmert said. Sweet Home faced Newport in the play-in round last year. That’s unlikely to be repeated, but it is possible.
Heading into the play-in round, “I think we’re playing some of our best basketball right now,” Emmert said. Defense is working at its highest level, but offense needs to be more consistent.
He is optimistic about Sweet Home’s chances.
“Cascade’s a good team,” Emmert said. “They’ll have a shot to win it. They’ll at least make a good run.”
The Huskies played competitively against Cascade and beat Philomath this season. “Obviously, we can play with anybody.”
Cascade 7 7 15 16 6 – 51
Sweet Home 8 5 12 20 3 – 48
Cascade scoring: Carson Molan 21, Nolan 14, C. Bischoff 10, Raney 4, Davis 2, Bertsch, J. Bischoff, Newton, Sande, Ball.
Sweet Home scoring: Hunter Coulter 14, Zach Luttmer 13, Aiden Tyler 10, Casey Tow 7, Zach Zanona 4, Cole Baxter, Jasper Korn, Brayden Keesee, Kai Bryson.
Against Sisters, during the first quarter, Emmert said, “we didn’t play necessarily super good.”
The Outlaws ended the first quarter ahead 8-6.
The Huskies figured it out in the second quarter and held Sisters to one point to lead 23-9 at halftime. Sweet Home was ahead 31-13 after three quarters, allowing just five points during the second and third quarters.
Defensively, the Huskies were strong, Emmert said, and all of the seniors, Casey Tow, Zach Zanona, Tye Moore, Luttmer, Kai Bryson and Jasper Korn, were able to play a lot on senior night, their final home appearance of the regular season.
The Huskies shot 45 percent from the field, while Sisters shot just 20 percent. The Huskies shot 54 percent from the foul line, while Sisters shot 33 percent.
Sweet Home dominated the boards with 39 rebounds, while the Outlaws pulled down 25. Each team turned the ball over 22 times.
Bryson led scoring for the Huskies with 11 points. Brogan Petterson, Nate Weber, Connor Linn and Joe Scholl led Outlaws scoring with four points each.
Sisters 8 1 4 7 – 20
Sweet Home 6 17 8 14 – 45
Sisters scoring: Brogan Petterson 4, Nate Weber 4, Connor Linn 4, Joe Scholl 4, Nicklous 3, Garrett K. 1, Palunuk, Schwartz, Huffman, Jones, Sharp.
Sweet Home scoring: Bryson 11, Luttmer 9, Tow 7, Coulter 7, Baxter 4, Tyler 2, Korn 2, Tye Moore 2, Keesee, Russell Holly.