The Husky boys summer basketball team won four of six games at a tournament hosted by Cottage Grove at Pleasant Hill on June 21 and June 22.
The Huskies defeated Willamette High School of Eugene, Cottage Grove, Gladstone and Elmira. Sweet Home lost by two points to North Bend and by only one to Pleasant Hill.
“We did a pretty good job,” Coach Kostanty Knurowski said. “And the two we lost, we had pretty good looks in both of those and let them slip away. We definitely had the opportunity to win the two games we lost.”
The Huskies opened with a 74-72 win over Gladstone, which is coached by Sweet Home coaching alumnus Karl Schmidtman, Knurowski said. The game was close all the way. Trailing by a couple points, Sweet Home tied the game with less than a minute left, and Gavin Kauffman sank two free throws for the win.
The Huskies didn’t play well in the next game, Knurowski said, and North Bend took advantage of it, winning a close one.
Sweet Home came back and dominated Cottage Grove, winning by some 25 points to cap off the first day of the tournament.
“It was nice to see the guys respond after the loss,” he said. “We kind of righted the ship right away.”
The second day, the Huskies opened with Pleasant Hill, jumping out to an early lead and then letting the Billies slowly pick away at the lead, he said.
Rebounding from the loss, “we responded pretty well and beat Willamette (a 5A school) by 16,” he said. The Huskies scored 88 points in the game.
And in the next game, which they won by 15, the Huskies scored about 84 points.
While the Huskies are scoring more than they have under previous coaches, their opponents are also scoring more.
“Typically, when you speed up the game, there’s more possessions in the game,” Knurowski said. “I feel like when we can keep a team under 60 points, we’re doing a good job defensively.”
Summer league is faster-paced too, he said, a little more free-wheeling.
“I think the kids for the most part have played pretty good defense,” he said.
During the tournament, point guard Drew Emmert broke his thumb, and Brent Moyer had to step in against Willamette, Knurowski said, and he did great.
Kauffman and Ryan Graville both shot the ball well this weekend, Knurowski said.
The team brought up a couple of junior varsity players, Jon Webb and Sean Potter, who stepped up and gave the Huskies some big minutes filling in for Jerome Coleman and Zane Wise.
The Huskies are finishing up with a team camp at Seaside to round out their summer season this week.