Ken Roberts
For The New Era
Playing their third game in four days Monday night in their home opener, Sweet Home’s boys basketball team looked like they’d had a workout after losing to Stayton on Friday and winning at Junction City Saturday.
But they still had enough energy left to dispatch a scrappy Creswell squad 77-68 in overtime.
The Huskies led by three points at the half, 28-25, pulled ahead in the third quarter, then nearly let the game slip away in the final period as the Bulldogs, behind seniors AJ Beltran and Aleks Gabrio, edged into the lead in the final minute and only a free throw from Brent Moyer in the final seconds tied the game at 62-all to send it into overtime.
Sweet Home caught fire in the four minutes of OT, jumping out to a 67-62 lead before Creswell, hampered by a turnover and a traveling call, managed to score.
But in the final minute of overtime the Bulldogs started fouling and the Huskies made enough free throws to extend their lead as time ran out.
“We did enough to win,” said Coach Konstanty Knurowski. “The team played the second half and overtime hard.”
He credited forward Gavin Kauffman with “a great game.
“He did the little things – he attacked the rim, hit the boards hard and his offensive rebounding was great,” Knurowski said of the sophomore, who led the team with 26 points, including one three-pointer.
Ryan Graville “did an excellent job on defense,” the coach said. “He contributed 16 points, which really helped.”
Other scorers for the Huskies were Moyer, with 11, Levi Marchbanks (10), Drew Emmert (seven), Josh Riggs (three) and Jerome Coleman and Brock Cota, who finished with two each.
Knurowski said the overtime game will be good experience for the young Huskies, who are learning to play more of a fast-break and pressure-defense style of basketball.
“They got great experience out of the overtime and the close score throughout the game,” he said.
Stayton 56, Sweet Home 44
The Huskies came out strong to start the game and played well through the first quarter, 13-12 against fifth-ranked Stayton.
“We put a lot of pressure on the Eagles offense,” Knurowski said.
But the Huskies got into foul trouble in the second quarter and Stayton took advantage, taking a 12-point scoring advantage to lead 28-17 at the half. The hosts padded their lead in the third period, finishing 43-26 leading into a pressure-packed final period.
“In the fourth quarter they applied a lot of pressure and we responded well,” Knurowski said. “We also applied pressure of our own and played well.”
Gavin Kauffman led the scoring for Sweet Home with 11 points and Ryan Granville was also in double figures with 10. Levi Marchbanks added six, Jerome Coleman five and Josh
Riggs, Brent Moyer, and Drew Emmert each scored two points.
SH 13 4 9 9 – 44
Stayton 12 16 15 13 – 56
Sweet Home 53,
Junction City 41
Knurowski said before the Huskies’ visit to Junction City that he knew little about the Tigers except that they had “a very good coach, Craig Rothenberger.”
As it turned out, Sweet Home knew all it needed to. The Huskies played a very good game, applying pressure the entire game with man-to-man and a tough zone defense and their shooting percentage improved over Friday’s game at Stayton.
After a fairly even first period, in which Sweet Home led 14-12 at the buzzer, the Huskies held the Tigers to five points in both the second and third quarters, which contributed to the victory, as they rolled off 15 and 11 points respectively in those periods.
In the fourth quarter, Junction City made a run to outscore the visitors 19-13, but it was too little too late for the hosts.
Ryan Granville led the individual scorers with 21 points, including four 3-pointers, while Gavin Kauffman and Levi Marchbanks each finished with eight points and Josh Riggs, Jerome Coleman, Drew Emmert and Brock Cota all scored four points.
Knurowski said he was very pleased with his team’s performance.
“The defense did a good job, although we let up in the fourth quarter,” he said. “We are still trying to get on the same page regarding offense.
Knurowski complimented Granville with playing “a very good game.
“He is capable of scoring a lot of points if we set up a screen,” he said.
He also said Brock Cota sparked the defense with some “very aggressive” play, hehlping to hold Junction City to only five points in the second and third quarters.
“We played hard on offense but get confused on some new or different defensive situations,” Knurowski said. “We need to practice to work these different situations.”
SH 14 15 11 13 – 53
Jctn.City 12 5 5 19 – 41