The Husky boys got off to a rough start in their 2007-08 their basketball campaign but they got themselves turned around quickly last week, defeating longtime rival Stayton High School for the first time since the 2001-02 season.
Senior Gabe Kauffman scored 36 points, the most points in a single game for at least the last 11 years.
The Huskies, a bit shorthanded, lost at Cascade 52-38 on Nov. 27 to open their season. But they turned their fortunes around Thursday night, Nov. 29, defeating Stayton 57-41.
The Huskies’ dominating performance against Stayton is a good indication of what this basketball will look like this season, Coach Tim Little said.
“I feel like we have some pieces of the puzzle, but there’s some work that needs done,” Little said.
“We kind of got off to a slow start (Thursday) really,” Little said. “Luckily, Gabe was 14 for 18 shooting.”
It’s not like he was a “ball hog,” Little said. “Shots came in the flow of the offense or from broken plays.”
The Huskies are fielding five or six weapons that can step up and score the way Kauffman did in that game, he said.
“Defensively, in the first quarter, we just kind of got into a groove,” Little said, and they kept it up all game. With 1:45 left, the Huskies were leading 51-33.
Defense was the key to the win, Kauffman said. The Huskies held Stayton to 41 after Stayton had scored more than 80 points against Sisters earlier in the week. The Huskies also held the Eagles to just six offensive boards on the night.
“We just kind of took them out of the flow of their offense,” Little said. “The buckets they did score seemed like they were breakdowns in our end of the court.
“Everybody played. Everybody was involved and did a good job unlike Tuesday.”
After Cascade, “we just got kind of down,” Kauffman said. “We hadn’t beat Stayton in, like, six years.”
So the Huskies came out with winning on their minds, but the visitors weren’t pushovers.
“They were tough,” Kauffman said. “They played really physical.”
The Huskies were shorthanded and were still figuring out roles for some players. It was also the first varsity appearance for seven of the players.
Against Stayton, Kauffman led scoring with 46 points. Colton Emmert added 10; Jerad Olsen, six; Brent Moyer, four; and Josh Riggs, one.
Justin Anderson led Stayton’s scoring with eight points.
Kauffman said he knew he had scored quite a bit, but he didn’t know how much it was.
That wasn’t what was on his mind though, he said. “I wanted the win.”
At Cascade, Kauffman and Olsen were both missing, Little said. “We actually played pretty good for the most part.”
The team got into a little foul trouble early, taking Emmert and Ryan Graville out of the game in the second quarter, Little said. The subs picked up the slack well, but they had some trouble scoring.
Emmert led scoring with 17 points. Graville added eight; Levi Marchbanks, five; Moyer, three; Drew Emmert, three; and Riggs, two.
Kyle Coots led Cascade scoring with 17 points.
The Huskies next face Pleasant Hill at home on Thursday.