Central ran the Husky boys basketball team through a meat grinder Friday night on its way to a 54-29 win at Central.
“They’re playing pretty doggone good right now,” Sweet Home Coach Kostanty Knurowski said of the Panthers. Central built a quick, solid lead, leading 17-7 after the first quarter.
“Essentially, we just ran into a buzz saw,” Knurowski said. “They’re aggressive, athletic and strong.
“Offensively, they came out and hit a few shots.”
Central’s Michael Hamilton hit four threes in the fist half, Knurowski said, but the Panthers really generated their offense from their defense, with fast breaks and put-backs.
“We tried multiple things,” Knurowski said. “We did get them into foul trouble, but we didn’t shoot overly well from the free throw line.”
As a result Central was able to control the game and limit some of the Huskies’ repertoire.
“Our stuff just wasn’t working too well with that amount of pressure,” Knurowski said. “They just made it difficult for everybody.”
Central built a 35-18 lead by halftime and then extended its lead again in the third to 44-23.
The Huskies’ top scorers were all left in single digits, with Brent Moyer leading the Huskies with nine points.
Moyer had the ball in his hands a lot, Knurowski said, and he went to the basket a lot, doing a nice job of getting to the foul line. But overall, “the shots we normally get, we weren’t getting.”
It was a learning opportunity and experience, both for this season and for the underclassmen who return next year, Knurowski said.
Also scoring for the Huskies were Gavin Kauffman with seven; Levi Marchbanks, six; Ryan Graville, three; Drew Emmert, two; Jerome Coleman, one; and Josh Riggs, one.
For Central, Hamilton led scoring with 17 points; Omlid, eight; E. Phillips, six; Whiteman, five; Pratt, four; Girard, four; Peters, four; Robison, three; T. Phillips, two; and Hedrick, one.