The Husky boy’s basketball team easily defeated the Central Panthers 46-37 on the road on Jan. 22.
“We kept them to 11 points in the first half, which was a great job for us defensively,” Coach Tim Little said.
The Huskies held a 12-8 lead in the first quarter and then stretched that lead to 28-11 at halftime. The Panthers gave the Huskies a little trouble in the third quarter, cutting their deficit to 34-22 by the end of the quarter and getting within seven points.
The Panthers run in the third quarter was enough to worry the Huskies, Little said. The Huskies were “very confident with the lead,” but the Panthers dropped a couple of threes to get things going.
The Huskies hit 8-10 free throws in the fourth quarter to seal their win, Little said.
Gabe Kauffman led Husky scoring with 23 points. Ryan Graville added 12; Colton Emmert, eight; Jerad Olsen, two; and Drew Emmert, one. Dustin Hay, Brent Moyer, Josh Riggs and Levi Marchbanks played but did not score.
Hamilton led Panther scoring with 21 points. Wallace and Whiteman added five each; Pratt, four; and Hedrick, two. King and Deardurff played but did not score.
This is the first game this year where Kauffman and Emmert didn’t both lead the Huskies in scoring, Little said. “Graville’s really stepped up the last couple of games.”
He’s put up a couple of threes, Little said, and he’s giving the Huskies a third option for heavy scoring now.
The Huskies were supposed to play Philomath Friday night, but the game was canceled because of weather. It has been rescheduled for Feb. 11 at home. Their next regularly scheduled contest against Philomath is Feb. 8, at Philomath.
The Huskies were scheduled to play at Taft in Lincoln City on Monday, but Little believed that game would probably also be canceled.
They are scheduled to play next at Newport, 12-3 overall and 4-1 in league, on Jan. 30.
The Huskies defeated Newport by 13 points in Sweet Home the last time the two teams met.
“We’re feeling good going into the second round of league,” Little said. “After the first loss against Philomath, we kind of figured things out.”
Little expects Newport to run and gun, he said. The team averages 64 points per game.