Dustin Eakin dropped four threes in the fourth quarter, three of them back-to-back to help Sutherlin break away with a 23-point fourth quarter and defeat the Huskies 59-50 in boys basketball in Sweet Home after a gamelong deadlock.
The Huskies built a small lead early in the game, ending the first quarter leading 12-8. Daniel Virtue scored a three out of the gate in the second to build a 15-8 lead, the largest lead for the Huskies.
Sutherlin whittled away at the Huskies to tie the game 25-25 at halftime.
The Huskies held a 38-36 edge at the end of a tight third quarter.
Ryan Adams hit a three early in the fourth to build a 41-336 lead. Bulldog Wryland McKnight scored a bucket, and then Eakin hit his first three to tie the game 41-41 about a minute into the quarter.
“He did not have a great game the previous game we had against them,” said Huskies Coach Brandon Gaskey. “And he was quiet until the fourth quarter.”
Eakin had missed five three-point attempts earlier in the game. He never connected inside the three-point line and never visited the foul line.
Hunter Jutte hit the front end of a pair of free throws three minutes into the half to get ahead 42-41. McKnight hit another shot to put Sutherlin ahead 43-42. Justin Tow scored a bucket on an assist from Ryan Adams to retake the lead, 44-43, for the Huskies.
Noah Caillier answered with a bucket and a foul shot to switch the lead, 46-44, for good to Sutherlin with 3:28 left. Eakin added another three to extend the lead to 49-44.
Jutte hit a pair of free throws, and Adams connected for two, but Eakin hit another pair of threes to build a 55-48 Sutherlin lead. Caillier finished the game off with four free throws.
“To me that was the first time we had four full quarters of full effort the whole way through,” Gaskey said, but the Huskies ran out of gas toward the end. They were tired by then, and he may have played Jutte a little too much, without enough breaks.
Caillier is a dynamic player “you’ve really got to watch,” Gaskey said. “Not only can he score, but he can create so much stuff for other people.”
Mostly, the Huskies did a good job keeping up with him, Gaskey said.
Jutte led the Huskies with 27 points and 11 rebounds. The Huskies shot 31.9 percent, with 10 turnovers, 39 rebounds, seven assists and two steals. Adams and Virtue each hit a three, and Jutte scored four.
Caillier led the Bulldogs with 21 points. Eakin led on the boards with eight rebounds. Sutherlin shot 39.3 percent with six turnovers, two assists and six steals.
Sutherlin 8 17 11 23 – 59
Sweet Home 12 13 13 12 – 50
Sutherlin: Noah Caillier 21, McKnight 17, Eakin 12, Tharp 6, Shelton 2, Carson 1, Briggs.
Sweet Home: Hunter Jutte 27, Ryan Adams 10, Justin Tow 4, Jake Bangot 4, Brycen Mitten 2, Kevin Seiber, Tyler Plebuch, Kyle Gaskey.
Sweet Home 40, Stayton 39
An injured Adams returned to the floor to save the day at Stayton, scoring a pair of free throws seal a 40-39 win over Stayton on the road on Jan. 13.
Stayton’s Kyle Schwarm scored to get things going 30 seconds in. Brycen Mitten answered two minutes later. Stayton held a 9-8 edge after the first quarter.
Bangot scored a bucket to go ahead 13-11 two minutes into the second quarter, leading off a Huskies run that finished with the Huskies ahead 24-11 with a minute left in the half. Matt Lindeman connected a three-pointer to close out the half with the Huskies leading 24-14.
The Eagles clawed their way slowly back into in the third, outscoring the Huskies 9-4 to trail 28-23. That deficit slowly shrank in the fourth and disappeared on a shot from Charlie Weeks with just two minutes left in the game. Jutte sent him to the foul line on the shot, and Weeks took the Eagles ahead 37-36. Virtue answered with a bucket, and Schwarm hit a pair of free throws at a minute left to build a 39-38 lead.
With 22 seconds left, Adams drew a foul from Everett St. Claire and sank both shots to win the game for the Huskies.
Adams had gone out in the first quarter with back spasms, Gaskey said. The Huskies needed a ball handler on the floor in the fourth, so Gaskey sent him back out just to take care of the ball.
Two weeks ago, Gaskey said he planned to start pressing at the beginning of the game to help get his team’s energy levels up early on.
“We really came out, and we had energy right off the bat,” Gaskey said. “It was good to be able to see us grind one out.”
Gaskey said the Huskies didn’t emphasize that press as much against Sutherlin because the Bulldogs point guard is so impressive. Instead they ran a soft press on about three-fourths of the court.
Energy sparks energy, and it seemed to work last week, Gaskey said. “I can’t fault the kids for the effort. We were in it and things just didn’t go our way.”
Against Stayton, Plebuch stepped up and played really good defense, Gaskey said.
Jutte led the Huskies with 15 points, five rebounds and three steals.
Jake Bangot added 11, Gaskey said. He had been asking the coach what he can do to improve his game. Gaskey told him he needed a ball handler to help take the pressure off Jutte, the team’s leading scorer.
“He did a great job in that game,” Gaskey said, and he filled that role.
The Huskies shot 41.7 percent, with 24 rebounds, 11 turnovers, three assists and six steals. The Eaglies shot 34.1 percent, with 28 rebounds, nine turnovers, five assists and six steals.
Getting the win “was like a huge monkey off our backs,” Gaskey said. “We’ve all been feeling a lot of pressure to not only win but to play well.”
Now, they’re seeing their hard work and the lessons they’ve learned pay off, Gaskey said. Their work and dedication really showed up in the fourth quarter against Stayton.
While it has juniors and seniors, this team is still young as far as time on the court, Gaskey said. “We’ve got to play like we’ve got a chip on our shoulder. When we do that, we can be as tough as anybody.”
Sweet Home 8 16 4 12 – 40
Stayton 9 5 9 16 – 39
Sweet Home: Jutte 15, Bangot 11, Virtue 6, Mitten 4, Adams 2, Eric Burks, Seiber, Keanu Aiona, Plebuch, Gaskey.
Stayton: Schwarm 9, Lindeman 9, Weeks 9, Diehl 6, Mario 2, Nau 2, St. Clair 2.