The Huskies lost 72-48 to Cottage Grove and 57-35 to Junction City in boys basketball last week, bringing them to the midpoint of Sky-Em League play.
Halfway through the Huskies are 4-1 in fifth place ahead of Elmira, 0-4. They begin playing each team in the league again Friday when they travel to Sutherlin. They will host Sisters Tuesday. Both teams are 4-1 and 10th and 17th respectively in statewide rankings. Cottage Grove, 3-1, is third in league and ranked 12th statewide, while Junction City, 2-3. is in fourth place in the Sky-Em.
“In the first half against Cottage Grove, we had a really poor second quarter,” said Ryan Graville, assistant coach. Against Junction City, we had a really poor first quarter.”
Really, in both cases, the team made a poor showing in two quarters, Graville said.
On the up side, “the last two games we’ve shot much better from the free throw line,” Graville said. Both were better than 70 percent, he said, and that had been a problem for the Huskies earlier in the season.
Junction City 57,
Sweet Home 35
On the road Friday, the Huskies ran into trouble against Junction City’s 1-3-1 trap, Graville said. The team threw some errant passes and were a half second late on open passes.
“We just struggled with that,” Graville said. The Huskies will practice against the 1-3-1 before they face the Tigers again.
Junction City took an early lead and was ahead 18-6 after one quarter. The Huskies kept up with the Tigers in the second quarter, closing the lead slightly, trailing 24-14 at halftime.
Junction City pulled away again in the third quarter, leading 44-24 going into the fourth quarter.
The Huskies shot 36.8 percent from the field, while the Tigers shot 37.8 percent and went 3-17 from the three-point line. The Huskies missed nine three-point attempts. Inside the line, Junction City shot 50 percent, and the Huskies were at 48.3 percent.
At the foul line, the Huskies shot 7-9, while Junction City hit the net 20 times on 28 free throw attempts.
Junction City scored 20 of its points from turnovers. The Huskies turned the ball over 20 times compared to nine for the Tigers.
On the boards, the Huskies recorded 31 rebounds, while the Tigers had 25.
Jake Swanson led the Huskies with 10 points and seven rebounds before fouling out.
Colton Ditlefson and Matthew Penn led the Tigers with 19 points each.
Sweet Home 6 8 10 11 – 35
Junction City 18 6 20 13 – 57
Sweet Home scoring: Jake Swanson 10, Hayden Nichol 9, Hunter Coulter 5, Keegany Holly 5, Nate Virtue 4, Casey Tow 2, Colton Smith, Zack Zanona, Nick Marler. Totals: 14 7-9 35
Junction City scoring: Colton Ditlefson 19, Matthew Penn 19, Knabe 8, Nash 4, Gibson 3, Gerdes 2, Vanras 2, Mitchell, Presecott, McClintock, Thielman. Totals: 17 20-28 57
Three-point goals: Ditlefson 3.
Cottage Grove 72,
Sweet Home 48
At home Jan. 23, the Huskies lagged a little behind the Lions out of the gate. They trailed 11-8 after the first quarter.
Cottage Grove pulled away in the second quarter, leading 34-21 at halftime. The Lions continued to stretch their lead to 50-33 going into the final quarter.
Holly led scoring for the Huskies with 17 points, while Erick Giffen led Cottage Grove with 19 points.
Cottage Grove 11 23 16 22 – 72
Sweet Home 8 13 12 15 – 48
Cottage Grove scoring: Erick Vallejo-Giffen 19, Ellingworth 17, Grover 11, Alonzo 7, Julien 6, Cardwell 6, Hagewood 3, H. Glenn 3, G. Glenn. Claflin, Doolittle, Graves. Totals: 25 17-25 72
Sweet Home scoring: Holly 17, Nichol 7, Coulter 6, Zanona 5, Tow 5, Swanson 4, Smith 2, Virtue 2, Zach Luttmer, Marler, Cade Gaskey, Lance Hanson. Totals: 14 20-27 48
Three-point goals: Vallejo-Giffen 2 Grover 2, H. Glenn.
Junior Varsity
The junior varsity team lost 56-35 to Junction City and beat Cottage Grove 53-47. The Huskies are 15-4 overall.
The JV 2 team is 13-3 after beating Junction City 56-44 and Cottage Grove 65-48.