Sophomore Casey Tow played his best game and his best quarter in varsity basketball Saturday as the Huskies just missed closing a 17-point deficit and taking Sutherlin, the top team in the Sky-Em League, to overtime.
Tow scored 13 of the Huskies’ 18 points on the fourth quarter, and he took a final three-point attempt to tie the game, but Sutherlin tipped the shot away to escape with a 47-44 win in Sutherlin.
The Huskies returned to Sweet Home Friday after a power outage and then went back to Sutherlin Saturday to play the regular league game.
The teams played evenly through the first quarter, and the Huskies held a 15-14 edge going into the second. Sutherlin broke away in the second quarter, holding the Huskies to just three points and taking a 32-18 lead that grew to 35-18 early in the third.
“We kind of had a different rotation in,” said Coach Drew Emmert. He was resting his starters, and Sutherlin started a run. When the starters returned to the floor, the Bulldogs had the momentum, making tough shots, while the Huskies some easier shots.
The Huskies closed the gap to 37-26 by the end of the third.
The Huskies stuck to the game plan to force the Bulldogs into jump shots, Emmert said. “They run a pretty tough matchup zone. They got out of the zone because we started scoring on them.”
The Huskies started the fourth quarter a little slow, Emmert said, but that’s when Tow started putting the ball through the hoop. The Huskies closed most of the gap but couldn’t quite close it out.
“Casey had a crazy good fourth quarter,” Emmert said, noting that Sutherlin is the top team in the league and ranked 10th in the state.
“We won three of the four quarters,” Emmert said. “We just needed to not have that loss in the second.”
The team is young, he said, and it showed.
The Huskies shot 41.9 percent from the field. Sutherlin shot 45.5 percent. The Huskies were 4-7 at the foul line, while Sutherlin shot 4-14. Sutherlin beat out the Huskies on the boards, pulling down 34 rebounds, while the Huskies had 21 rebounds.
Tow led scoring with 13 points, and Keegan Holly added 11.
Nate Virtue led the Huskies on the boards with six rebounds. Jake Swanson had five rebounds.
Around the league, Sutherlin and Sisters are tied for first place, with a league record of 5-1. Sutherlin is 13-7 overall while Sisters is 12-8 and ranked 14th in the state.
Cottage Grove, ranked 12th in the state, is in third with a record of 4-2. Junction City, 3-3, is in fourth place. The Huskies, 1-5, are in fifth place, and Elmira, 0-6, is in sixth.
The Huskies were scheduled to host Sisters Tuesday. They travel to Elmira Friday and Cottage Grove next Tuesday. They’ll wrap up the regular season hosting Junction City on Feb. 16.
If they can win four games straight, they could qualify for a play-in game, Emmert said.
The junior varsity beat Sutherlin by one point Friday. The team is 16-4.
The JV2 did not play due to the power outage. The team beat Lebanon 57-54 Jan. 29 and is 14-3.
Sweet Home 15 3 8 18 – 44
Sutherlin 14 18 5 10 – 47
Sweet Home scoring: Casey Tow 13, Keegan Holly 11, Colton Smith 8, Hayden Nichol 6, Jake Swanson 4, Nate Virtue 2, Zack Zanona, Hunter Coulter.
Sutherlin scoring: Trevor Daniels 12, Brandon Carr 12, Gill 8, Christianson 7, Hope 3, Westbrooks 2, Merrifield 2, Horn, Bailey.
Three-point goals: Sweet Home: Tow 2, Smith, Holly. Sutherlin: Daniels 2, Carr, Hope.