North Marion 58,
Sweet Home 56
North Marion cut down an eight-point deficit to barely slide past the Husky boys basketball team, 58-56, Friday night at Sweet Home to notch a win and clinch a tie for conference champion.
The Huskies scratched out a 12-11 lead over the visitors in the first quarter, but the teams were tied at 26-26 at halftime. The Huskies built a four-point lead in the third quarter, 45-41, and expanded that to eight points with six minutes left in the game.
“We made some poor decisions and turned the ball over at some crucial times in the fourth quarter,” Coach Tim Little said. The Huskies turned the ball over three times in the last three minutes. They fouled North Marion a couple of times, and North Marion sank all of its free throws.
North Marion hit a three from the top of the key to tie the game, Little said. He said he’s seen North Marion four times this year and never saw that player hit that three.
The Huskies ran a special at the end with just eight seconds left, Little said. Gabe Kauffman, who shoots 60 percent from the field, had a good look, but the shot rimmed out. North Marion drew fouls and hit two free throws for the final score.
“We still had two seconds left for a Hail Mary,” Little said. “You never know.”
A clock error ended the game and a chance for a last-second score.
The clock was reset at 2.26 seconds left on a North Marion free throw. It was inadvertently set to two minutes 26 seconds. The timekeeper started the clock on the Huskies’ in-bounds play, but the referees quickly stopped the game and called it.
“Which is a tough way to end that game,” Little said. “Especially as hard as these kids battled. You’d like to see the kids decide who wins and who loses besides an error on the clock. We still felt like we beat ourselves.”
The Huskies fought foul trouble, Cody Shipp fouling out at the end and Anthony Hoffman playing a long time on four fouls, Little said, but the Huskies had some players really step up and play well.
Ryan Elliott led Husky scoring with 13 points. Kauffman added nine; Shipp, eight; Brandon Smith, eight; Tim Faulconer, six; Charlie Fitzsimons, six; and Hoffman, six.
Senior Adam Brickley led North Marion with 22 points. Freshman point guard Steven Grigsby added 17.
Cascade 47, Sweet Home 33
The Huskies lost 47-33 to Cascade on Feb. 14.
The teams were tied 8-8 after the first quarter, and Cascade had a 17-16 lead at halftime. Cascade broke away in the third quarter to lead 35-26.
Shipp led the Huskies with nine points. Kauffman added seven; Fitzsimons, five; Smith, four; Adam Matuszak, two; Elliott, two; Nathan Whitfield, two; Brandon Weist, one; and Hoffman, one.
The Huskies finish league play 2-6 in fifth place. They will face fourth-place Cascade at Cascade tentatively at 7 p.m. on Feb. 22.
Call 367-7145 to confirm or for further information.
“We played them tough for the most part,” Little said of Cascade last week. “They’re big, and they’re very talented. They’ve got a great shooter. They’ve got three all-team players from last year, and they’ve got 6-6 kids.
“We’re going to change things up a little bit defensively, just to put a couple wrinkles in, and see if we can get them to make some mistakes,” Little said. At the same time, the Huskies will focus on fixing their mistakes, the things that are costing them games and “value each possession.”
The Huskies haven’t had too many turnovers lastely, Little said, but the ones they’ve had have been at crucial times.
The team needs to work on time and score and game management, Little said.
After Cascade, the Huskies will need to defeat Sisters at Sisters to reach state. The third-place team in the Capital Conference will travel to the second-place team in the Greater Oregon league, which is most likely Baker, for the first round of state playoffs.