Sean C. Morgan
Of The New Era
The Husky boys basketball team picked off Valley Catholic 56-49 at home on Dec. 20.
“It was a great win,” Coach Tim Little said. “We needed it. We played great, and they were number five coming in.”
And they did it down senior point guard Cody Shipp, who is out for five weeks with a fractured scapula from football season.
“We were facing a little adversity and had lost the last five games facing the number-five team in the state,” “Defensively, we just played really well.”
The game came on the heels of a 69-57 loss to third-ranked Marist. The Huskies had a 12-10 edge after one quarter. They led 31-27 at halftime, but the Huskies slowed down in the third to trail 39-37.
Ryan Elliott, Anthony Hoffman and Brandon Weist all played great at post, Little said. Charlie Fitzsimons took Shipp’s spot at the one guard and contributed five assists with two turnovers. “He did a great job filling in for Cody.
“We just approached this game like it was any other game. We played as well as a team as we played all year.”
The team as a whole had 16 assists, its highest yet this year.
Fitzsimons distributed the ball well,” Little said. “Everybody contributed.”
Elliott led Husky scoring with 17 points. Weist added 14; Brandon Smith, nine; Gabe Kauffman, eight; Hoffman, two; Fitzsimons, two. Colton Emmert and Nathan Whitfield played but did not score.
For Valley Catholic, Gates led scoring with 14 points; Efstathion, 12; Kennedy, 11; Barchmann, seven; Hoffman, three; Johnson, two; Kiefer, zero; and Casey, zero.
Second-ranked Wilsonville defeated the Husies 63-44 on the road on Dec. 22.
“Last night, we came out we were up 9-0,” Little said, a strong start for a team that added Elliott to its injured list for knee surgery. Elliott will be out for three weeks. “We scored the first nine points with sophomores and new starters.”
Wilsonville clawed its way back into the game for a 27-23 halftime lead.
The Huskies had their typically slow third quarter, Little said. “They came out of the half and said, ‘You know what? We overlooked these guys,’ and put the screws to us.”
Kauffman and Tim Faulconer led scoring with nine points each. Smith added eight; Weist, seven; Hoffman, six; Whitfield, two; Adam Matuszak, two; Emmert, one;
Fitzsimons, zero; Rickey Worley, zero; Jon Ball, zero.
Eveave led Wilsonville with 16 points; C. Willis, 10; Staub, seven; Galbraith, five; M. Willis, four; Samson, two; Crece, two; Davis, two; and Harper, two.
The Huskies are 4-7.
“We’ve had a tough preseason,” Little said. “We’ve had some adversity. I really do think the last three games, we’ve been playing better as a team.”
Little hopes that tough preseason will pay off against league opponents who have not faced the same level of competition.
Stayton and Cascade were 6-2, Little said, and Sisters was 1-5. But Sisters played those games tough finishing two in overtime. North Marion was 2-5, and Molalla was 2-6.
“They haven’t played the schedule we’ve played,” Little said. “We did start out a little bit slow, but we’re playing head and (shoulders) above what we were playing three to four weeks ago.”
He is looking forward to getting three or four practices in before the Huskies’ next game on Jan. 3 against Philomath.