Huskies pull away to stuff Cascade, 57-44

The Huskies won what started as a tough outing against Cascade 57-44 at home in boys basketball on Friday.

The contest started evenly, with the Huskies ahead 13-9 after one quarter and 24-21 at halftime. By the end of the third, the Huskies managed to widen the gap by a point and lead 41-37.

“It was really a pretty close game for three quarters,” said Coach Kostanty Knurowski. “Cascade sat in a zone and caused us just a bit of problems.”

Facing an unusual triangle-and-one defense, “it took us awhile to understand how to attack it,” Knurowski said. “They did a nice job trying to take Gavin (Kauffman) out of the game.”

Kauffman averages nearly 21 points per game and is the Huskies’ leading scorer.

He had to work extra hard to put his numbers up, Knurowski said. Kauffman led the Huskies with 19 points.

“They did a nice job of making him a focal point,” Knurowski said. “To his credit, he didn’t get as many touches with the ball as he normally gets.”

He hit big threes in the third when the team was having a hard time scoring, Knurowski said. He hustled after loose balls, forced his open looks and hit some tough shots, but he only shot the ball 10 to 12 times total.

“And he had a couple of assists because people were overplaying him,” Knurowski said.

The zone also affected Cody Felkins, who scores around 10 to 12 points per game.

“They had a good post that kind of frustrated him a little bit and a little bit of an off night,” Knurowski said. In that zone, he didn’t get the opportunities he usually gets.

With the pressure on Felkins and Kauffman, the Huskies took their game to the perimeter, and three players stepped up especially well, Knurowski said.

Point guard Dallas Morgan scored 12 points including two threes, Knurowski said. “It was good to see him step up and shoot the ball well, like we know he’s capable of doing.

“Jeremy White was a spark plug for us again.”

White scored nine off of defensive steals and forced turnovers, and Paul Kim came off the bench to hit a three and free throws for seven total points.

The overtime loss against Stayton showed how far this young team has come so far this year, Knurowski said. The Cascade game showed more of it.

“It was nice to see we were able to make some adjustments,” Knurowski said. “It was kind of on the fly.”

The team was a little tentative facing the Cascade zone at first, he said, but then the Huskies figured where and when to attack while using their own man-to-man defensive pressure to hold Cascade to 44.

The Huskies, with a 6-5 record, open league play at 7:45 p.m. on Friday at home against Sisters, which is 8-4.

Sisters is a good team, Knurowski said, and the Outlaws should be in the mix for the league championship.

“We’re hoping we’ll be right there in the mix too,” Knurowski said.

Cascade 9 12 16 7 – 44

Sweet Home 13 11 17 16 – 57

Cascade Scoring: Zach Rouse 16, Wright 10, Everetts 8, Hunt 4, Veltrus 3, Towery 3, Schlabach.

Sweet Home Scoring: Gavin Kauffman 19, Morgan 12, White 9, Kim 7, Taylor Mauch 3, Brice Vandenberg 3, Robert Rubidoux 2, Felkins 2, Kyle Winslow.

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