Sweet Home 54, Crook County 52
Both teams looked sloppy at times when basketball season opened in Sweet Home Thursday night.
The Huskies maintained a narrow lead most of the game, and briefly lost it as Crook County edged into a tie with 10 seconds left.
Gavin Kauffman swept up the left side and around his defender to score the game-winning bucket and build a 54-52 final score.
The Huskies jumped out to an early four- to six-point lead, leading 12-8 after the first quarter. Crook County outscored the Huskies in the second quarter to take a 26-23 halftime lead.
The Huskies took control of the third quarter, building six- and eight-point leads and a 41-36 lead by the end of the quarter.
“We picked up our pressure a bit defensively, went full-court,” said Coach Kostanty Knurowski. “It seemed to cause them a few problems. Our energy level picked up.”
The Huskies played more aggressively, picking up 10 points at the foul line, but so did Crook County, which had eight shot attempts from the free-throw line.
Crook County never got the lead back after halftime, Knurowski said, but it did tie the game on a free throw with 10 seconds left, Knurowski said. That’s where Kauffman stepped up to seal the victory.
Both teams seemed to have the first-game nerves, he said, and it’s a difficult contest by which to judge the team’s performance.
Crook County just dropped to 4A, and it had the long ride over the Santiam Pass before the game, Knurowski said. The following night, Crook County defeated Madras, which was a pretty good team last year.
“It felt good to get the first game out of the way,” Knurowski said. “The majority of our guys don’t have a whole lot of varsity experience. It was good for them to get some experience under their belts.”
They were a little sloppy at times, he said, but he thought they played hard and most of it had to do with situations they hadn’t practiced yet.
The game showed some good signs for the season, Knurowski said. Cody Felkins earned 13 points working in the post. Knurowski knew he could score, but he did it efficiently Thursday night.
“Robert Rubidoux hit some big buckets for us and also played some very good defense,” Knurowski said. “It was good to see him be assertive on the defensive end.
“To be honest, I didn’t know how some of these guys would react to significant varsity time.”
Jeremy White, Chris Webb, Taylor Mauch and Kyle Winslow also made good plays with signs of good things to come, Knurowski said.
The team made all 17 free-throw attempts as well, Knurowski said.
Turnovers were probably on the high end, but that’s typical of a first game, Knurowski said. Field goal percentages were probably in the low 40s.
The team took some good shots, he said, but some of them looked a bit rushed.
“It’s going to take some time for these guys to get used to playing together,” Knurowski said. “The kids are working hard. Yeah, they made mistakes.”
But those mistakes weren’t in their hustle and hard work, he said. They were things they haven’t been able to practice yet.
The Huskies host Taft Friday night and travel to North Marion on Tuesday.