Sweet Home 47
Elmira 40
Despite a rough offense that committeed 19 turnovers, the boys basketball team held off Elmira with a strong defense to win 47-40 on the road Friday night.
“I thought defensively, we came out really strong for the first game,” Coach Mark Risen said. “There’s still room for improvement.”
Overall, Coach Risen was pleased with the Huskies’ defensive technique though it could have been better, he said. He was far more impressed with the effort his team put into the defense.
“We ran three defenses, and I thought we ran them all very well,” Coach Risen said. “Offensively, it’s just a bunch of little things … and out timing’s way off.”
Offensively, the team didn’t execute well, and fundamentally, they’re a little behind where Coach Risen would like to see them at this point.
“It’s pretty indicative what we’ve been working on for three weeks,” Coach Risen said.
Elmira is a large, physical team, Coach Risen said. They had problems offensively as well but threw up a strong defense as well.
“I don’t know that it was our offense was the problem,” Coach Risen said. “They were dictating a few things to us. We’ve got to play through whatever defense teams throw at us.”
“We made a couple of good runs at them,” Coach Risen said. The Huskies ran 11-0 in the second quarter and 9-0 again in the fourth for the win. Most of the game, the Huskies held a 10- to 12-point lead.
Though frustrated with offensive execution, Coach Risen said, the “effort was phenomenal by the kids from top to bottom.”
Coach Risen said his team tentative at times with first game jitters and a little fatigue at times.
Leading up to the first game, the team has fought illness, with different players at practice different days, Coach Risen said. The team will gel. “I don’t think it’s a matter of will it come. It’s just a matter of when.”
Nik Walker played well offensively, shooting 8-12 from the field and 4-4 from the foul line to score 20 points. Aaron Hegge scored 14 points with nine rebounds and five blocks.
“I thought Sam Posthuma was really solid for us defensively,” Coach Risen said. He did a good job on the boards and on interior defense, talking to his team and making sure the defense worked.
“Kevin Furry, I thought, played really unselfish,” Coach Risen said. “He was getting the ball to people, setting people up for scoring opportunities.
“One of the biggest surprises of the night, I think, was Anthony Mink. Mink got to start his first varsity start Friday night, and I thought he answered the call.”
Mink scored seven with three rebounds playing 16 to 17 minutes.
“He really did a nice job getting to the basket,” Coach Risen said. He showed dramatic improvement in defense.
When Hegge got into foul trouble, the Huskies started going to Ricky Howe and Tyler Emmert, who both did a good job there, Coach Risen said.
Coming up Thursday, the Huskies will host City Christian out of Portland.
The junior varsity team defeated Elmira 48-46.
The freshmen won 38-28. They were led by Nick Moore and Kevin Westfall.
Name FG FT Pts Rb(D) Rb(O) Rb(T) Asst TO Stl Deflect Blk Ch Foul
Walker 8/12 4/4 20 1 1 3 6 2 4 1
Posthuma 1/5 2 3 3 6 2 1 1 2
Hegge 4/8 6/7 14 6 3 9 1 1 1 2 5 4
Furry 2/4 0/1 4 2 2 2 4 3 1 1 2
Mink 3/6 1/2 7 1 2 3 2 1 1
Matuszak 0/1 1 3 1
Howe 0/1 2 2 1 1 2
Cliver 1 1 1
Emmert 1
Totals 18/36 11/15 47 14 9 23 9 19 8 10 6 1 13
Elmira: 15 Turnovers, 9 O-boards