Sweet Home boys basketball faced a challenging week last week, falling 73-39 to No. 9, North Marion on Tuesday and 52-43 at home against No. 7 Newport on Friday.
Against North Marion, the Huskies started strong with 10 points in the first quarter, but struggled in the second. They responded with a solid third quarter, adding 18 points, but offensive struggles in the fourth limited them to just seven points while North Marion closed out the game with an additional 24 in the final period.
“North Marion is a tough offensive team that shoots well,” Coach Drew Emmert said. “We had a strong start but hit a rough stretch in the second quarter that put us behind. Our third quarter was solid, but we couldn’t sustain it in the fourth.”
Bradyn McClure led the Huskies at North Marion with 15 points, with Josh Aker adding eight and Jason Funk six. Junior Cade Hartenstein led the hosts, who got at least five points from seven different players, with 17.
On Friday, Sweet Home kept pace with Newport and managed to tie the game late in the third quarter. However, the Cubs capitalized on some key opportunities in the final period, while Sweet Home struggled to convert scoring chances, though the Huskies played tough defense throughout – they just couldn’t get their shots to fall.
“We played hard and had a lot of players contribute,” Emmert said. “We had it tied going into the fourth, but Newport made some big shots when it mattered, and we couldn’t finish down the stretch.
“This week we played two top 10 teams in the state. We struggle to score and hit very few jump shots. It would have been nice to win this week, but I am proud of the way we competed. We had a lot of people contribute.”
McClure led the Huskies with 16 points against the Cubs, while Mason Tyler was also in double figures with 10, and Conner Pace added nine. Ethan Bruns had 16 and Rory Barber added 15 to pace the visitors.
The Huskies (0-4, 3-14 overall going into this week) will look to improve their scoring efficiency as they prepare for their next game.
They travel to No. 2 Cascade on Tuesday. And at press time an endowment game had been scheduled on Saturday Feb. 8, at Lebanon (5-10 going into this week).