The Huskies slipped past Newport Friday night 65-63 to advance from the regional playoff to the first round of state in boys basketball.
“It was really a pretty close game,” said Coach Kostanty Knurowski.
Newport jumped out to a 10-4 lead, but by the end of the first quarter, the Huskies had caught up to Newport and tied the game 13-13.
“After that, it was a close game,” Knurowski said.
The Huskies were ahead by two at the end of the half, but Newport sank a three with five seconds left to take a 30-29 lead.
“We outscored them by 10 in the third quarter to take a nine-point lead,” Knurowski said.
The Huskies led 48-39 after three quarters.
To start the fourth quarter, the Sweet Home had the ball, and Cody Felkins scored a three-point play to build a 12-point lead.
“They started whittling it away,” Knurowski said. “We missed a few free throws, turned the ball over a few times and took some ill-advised shots.”
Newport hit three three-pointers during the quarter, and the game got dicey.
With two minutes left, Newport took a one-point lead. Gavin Kauffman hit a shot, Newport turned the ball over and Felkins sank two free throws to capture a three-point lead.
Newport followed with a three to tie the game. The Huskies missed their next shot, but Felkins grabbed the board and kicked it out to Kauffman for a three pointer.
Newport had a couple of opportunities to tie the game in the last minute, but the Cubs weren’t able to connect any of them.
Kauffman hit 1-2 at the foul line with 14 seconds left to increase the lead to four, 61-57. Newport followed with a three with six seconds left to get within one.
Newport Coach Mychal Williams called a timeout, but he was out of timeouts, drawing a technical foul.
Kauffman hit both shots to increase the lead to three. He went to the line again after inbounding the ball to lead 65-60. Newport closed the game with a three on the buzzer.
Until last week, Newport had lost only two games. The Cubs lost to Central on Feb. 22 before facing the Huskies. Both of those teams were 8-1 in the Oregon West Conference.
“After we lost to Elmira, we were disappointed we didn’t host a playoff game,” Knurowski said. Newport’s “talent and athleticism were alarming, but we have had quite a bit of success against them the last two, three years.”
Being familiar with Newport gave Sweet Home some confidence, he said. Heading into the game, the Huskies were “concerned but confident. We knew we were going to have to play well to beat them there.
“We did play well. We had four kids in double figures.”
Jeremy White sustained a knee injury in the fourth quarter, he said. Robert Rubidoux and Brice Vandenberg stepped in and played well down the stretch.
Knurowski doesn’t know whether White will play in the next game.
“We were fairly dominated in scoring by four guys, but it really was a team effort to get the win,” Knurowski said. Everyone contributed, including the guys who weren’t on the floor. They were standing and supporting their team like no other game this year.
Team defense was top-notch, he said. “It was good to see the whole team contributing in a variety of different ways.”
The Huskies will go on to face Roosevelt High School at 7 p.m. on Friday in Portland in the 16-team state playoffs. The winner will move on to the eight-team tournament at Gill Coliseum at Oregon State University in Corvallis.
Roosevelt, which dropped to the 4A this year, is obviously a very good team, ranked in the top 10 a good part of the year, Knurowski said.
The Huskies haven’t had a chance to see the Roughriders yet, but Knurowski was planning to look at videotape this week.
Roosevelt is 15-7 overall. The Huskies are 14-9. It could be a tough environment for the Huskies.
“They’re a team that shoots the ball very well,” Knurowski said.