It took three overtimes for North Valley to beat Sweet Home 67-62 in boys basketball Saturday afternoon in Sweet Home.
The Huskies were slow out of the gate, trailing 10-5 after the first quarter. Sweet Home was down by 12 early in the second period before rallying to a 22-17 halftime score.
“We started hitting more shots,” said Coach Drew Emmert, for whom the game was his first as varsity head coach. “We got more of a rhythm going.”
The Huskies had the edge in the third quarter, getting within a point of North Valley, trailing 29-28.
Down by five with a couple of minutes to play, Sweet Home rallied again and Keanu Aiona hit a three in the fourth quarter to tie the game 44-44 and send the game into overtime. The teams were tied 48-48 after one overtime and 55-55 after the second.
“They were a really good team,” Emmert said. “We played really well, obviously not good enough. We should’ve won the game.”
Sweet Home was ahead by four with 45 seconds left on the regulation clock, Emmert said, but the Huskies turned the ball over twice.
The Huskies had trouble holding onto the ball all night, turning it over 33 times, but North Valley had the same problem. Sweet Home forced 22 turnovers with tough D all the way down the court.
The Huskies got into foul trouble early, and that put probably their best shooter, Daniel Virtue on the bench for a lot of the game. Virtue fouled out in the fourth quarter. Justin Tow and Aiona followed in the second overtime. Jake Bangot was out with cramping in the third.
By the final overtime, Sweet Home had three guys on the floor who didn’t play during regulation.
This was against a team that won its league and has made it to state the last four years.
“I’m happy with the effort and the heart we showed to battle back,” Emmert said. “We’re at that level to beat these teams. We’ve just got to get over that hump. Everything we struggled with, I think we can fix. There’s a lot of good stuff for us to build off of.”
Aiona led Huskies scoring with 15 points. Logan Kline added 11, and Tow scored 10. Jordan Lauby led North Valley with 18 points.
Tow stole the ball six times, while Ty Plebuch led on the boards with 11 rebounds.
The Huskies are scheduled to play at Taft on Tuesday. They’ll host Toledo on Friday and travel to Yamhill-Carlton next Tuesday.
North Valley 10 12 7 15 4 7 12 – 67
Sweet Home 5 12 11 16 4 7 7 – 62
North Valley scoring: Jordan Lauby 18, Stegemiller 14, Scott 11, Martz 8, Hobgood 5, Dobawsky 4, Segura 4, Hornbeck, C. Lauby,
Sweet Home scoring: Keanu Aiona 15, Logan Kline 11, Justin Tow 10, Justin Carpenter 8, Daniel Virtue 7, Jake Bangot 7, Ty Plebuch 4, Jesus Patricio, Ryan Hackworth, Keegan Holly.