The Huskies summer varsity basketball team finished a tournament at Cascade 3-1, taking second behind Cascade High School, Saturday and Sunday.
Though missing some key players, the Huskies avenged an earlier loss to Regis, winning by four points. Ryan Graville, Josh Riggs and Zane Wise didn’t play because they were taking SATs. Wise arrived at the tournament late in the game.
After losing to Regis a week earlier at a tournament at home, the first action of the summer season, “the kids were pretty pumped to play,” new Coach Kostanty Knurowski said.
Everyone was on the floor for their second game, a one-point loss to Cascade.
The game went back and forth down to the wire, Knurowski said. “We ended up ahead. They scored with just under one minute. We scored with 20, 15 seconds to go back up by one.”
Cascade sank another bucket with six or seven seconds left on the clock, but the Huskies got another chance to win the game.
Graville got a good look, but his shot hit the front of the rim, Knurowski said. Gavin Kauffman and Levi Marchbanks both worked hard to tip it in but collided, missing the chance to win.
Sunday, the Huskies returned to the Cascade gym and delivered another helping of revenge, this time to North Marion, winning by five after losing to the northern Huskies at the Sweet Home tournament.
Sweet Home finished with an eight-point victory over Gladstone.
“I thought the kids played much better than our first tournament,” Knurowski said. “It was a pretty good weekend for us. I think the kids are starting to get used to me and what I expect.”
The Huskies opened summer league with a home tournament on May 31. The Huskies beat Lebanon but lost to North Marion in sudden death overtime and to Regis.
The Huskies return this summer with four incoming seniors, Graville, Riggs, Wise and Brandon Oswalt. They are joined by juniors Drew Emmert, Brent Moyer, Marchbanks, Jerome Coleman, Sean Potter and Jon Webb and sophomore Gavin Kauffman.
“They’re a great group of guys, a very hard-working group,” Knurowski said. Getting used to a new style, “the kids have been very open.
“With that being said, there’s games we might lose this summer I don’t anticipate losing next year.”
Riggs, post, and Graville, wing, both started last seasonand provide great leadership, and “they’ve worked hard to kind of bring the team along,” Knurowski said. At this point, Emmert has inherited the point from his brother Colton, who graduated Friday night.
Marchbanks, Kauffman and Moyer have stepped into open varsity slots, with Marchbanks working at wing and post, Moyer working at wing and backup point and Kauffman at wing.
The Huskies were scheduled to play Junction City and Siuslaw at Junction City High School on Tuesday.