Sweet Home 61
Sisters 38
Polishing a lackluster offensive performance in the first half, the Husky boys took off on a 17-0 run in the third quarter to defeat Sisters 61-38 on the Outlaws’ court Friday night.
“We played sloppy in the first half,” Coach Mark Risen said. That was reflected in 13 turnovers in the first half, but great defense was held Sisters to shooting 4-23 in the first half.
The Huskies led 18-10 after the first quarter and 28-15 at halftime.
The Huskies had a bye on Tuesday last week with time off from practice, Coach Risen said. “With the combination of the time off and the bye, offensively, we weren’t clicking.”
In the third quarter, the Huskies returned for a 20-7 quarter and the 17-0 run to lead 48-22 at the end of the third. Sisters closed the margin by three on a 16-13 fourth quarter.
The Huskies marked only six turnovers in the second half. Their goal as a team is 12 or fewer in a game.
The first half of league play wound to a close last night against Cascade, although results were unavailable at press time
As the second half of the league schedule starts, the Huskies are “pretty good,” Coach Risen said. “We’re probably playing at about 92 to 94 percent most of the time.”
The team is still striving for consistency, Coach Risen said. “As a gropu they’re an amazing group of kids. They’re just really fun to be around. They love basketball. They all love to play. Defensively, they’ve just about got all the pieces together.”
Coach Risen points to nine of the Huskies’ last 12 quarters resulting in single digit scores for opponents.
“Offensively, this team is good at finding the opponent’s weakness,” Coach Risen said. “They’re very adept at finding different ways to score.”
The Huskies are tough to scout because several different players will score, and the leading scorer changes from game to game, highlighting the team’s lack of selfishness, Coach Risen said.
“If you watch the box scores around the league, there’s no easy nights for anybody,” Coach Risen said looking toward the second half of the season. He pointed to conference leader Stayton’s narrow three-point win over Cascade and other close games between teams at both ends of the league.
“Every single team in our league is going to be fighting for the playoff spots,” Coach Risen said. Right now, even the number seven team, Sisters, won’t be going away.
“Our goal is to play our best basketball of the year over the next month,” Coach Risen said. “I don’t think we have peaked. It’s going to be fun to see if this group rises to the challenge, which I believe they will. It’ll be fun to see what happens over the next five or six weeks.”
The Huskies are starting to show the “ferocity a state team plays with,” Coach Risen said. The team’s leadership has grown in recent weeks. “If we can keep that killer instinct and bring that to fruition, this could be a good club.”
Nik Walker led the Huskies with 14 points, including two three-pointers, with five rebounds. Wes Smith added 12 with five rebounds. Bondesen scored 12, including two three-pointers with five assists. Aaron Hegge added eight points; Jake Gaskey, six with five assists; Sam Posthuma, three; Casey Aiello, three; Brian Seward, two; and Matt Matuszak, one.
Josh Reznick led Sisters with 12 points.
Kevin Furry, who was injured in a game three weeks ago returned to the lineup Tuesday night.
The Huskies face North Marion at home to open the second half of league play.
Standings
Stayton 5-0
Central 4-1
Sweet Home 4-1
North Marion 3-2
Molalla 2-3
Cascade 1-4
Sisters 0-6