Sweet Home’s boys beat Newport 59-34 Friday at home and Sisters 48-32 Jan. 28 on the road in basketball to put their first two league wins in the book this year.
“We played good,” said Coach Drew Emmert. “We ran our stuff really well. Our press worked well, which it has all season.”
The Huskies also played disciplined ball in their half-court game, he said.
Against Newport, the Huskies went ahead quickly, leading 15-6 at the end of the first quarter and 35-16 at halftime. Newport matched the Huskies in the third quarter, with Sweet Home leading 48-29 going into the fourth quarter.
“We came out playing hard, on fire,” Emmert said. “They didn’t break our press very well.”
Newport has a couple of really good players, he said, but the Huskies were able to hold them off. Newport has the ability to play with the top-10 teams in the league, and “you can’t let them catch fire.” He noted that Newport lost to third-ranked Philomath by just three points.
Sweet Home scored 24 points off turnovers during the game, while Newport was limited to two. The Huskies gave up 11 turnovers, while Newport turned the ball over 19 times.
Sweet Home shot 48 percent from the field and 100 percent from the foul line. Newport shot 32 percent from the field and 62.5 percent from the free throw line.
Hunter Coulter led Sweet Home with 29 points. Casey Tow added 10; Aiden Tyler, nine; Jasper Korn, six; and Zach Luttmer, five. Playing but not scoring were Cole Baxter, Zach Zanona, Tye Moore, Brayden Keesee, Russell Holly and Kai Bryson.
Finishing the first half of league play, the Huskies are 2-4 in league and 11-6 overall.
“It would’ve been good to get a few more (wins),” Emmert said, but that first stretch of the season was tough, with some of the toughest games on the road.
“if we can take care of business at home, we set ourselves up pretty good for playoffs,” Emmert said. “We’ve just got to take it one game at a time. We can still finish high and get a good spot for playoffs.”
The Huskies were scheduled to visit fourth-ranked Woodburn, 5-1 in league and 13-4 overall, Tuesday. They host third-ranked Philomath, 5-1 in league and 14-3 overall, at 5:30 p.m. on Friday and then 14th-ranked Stayton, 3-3 in league and 11-6 overall, at 5:30 p.m. on Feb. 11.
The top spot in the league is tied among fifth-ranked Cascade, Philomath and Woodburn, each with a 5-1 league record. Stayton is in fourth place, and Sweet Home is in fifth place ahead of Newport, 1-5 in league and 6-12 overall, and Sisters, 0-6 in league and 2-16 overall.
Newport 6 10 13 5 – 34
Sweet Home 15 20 13 11 – 59
The Huskies took a quick lead and were ahead 13-3 after the first quarter against Sisters and 24-10 at halftime.
“Sisters got it kind of close in the third,” Emmert said. At one point, Sisters trailed by just eight points, but the Huskies ended the quarter ahead 37-22.
“(Sisters) did a pretty good job slowing it down,” Emmert said. “But in the half court, we were pretty tough.”
Sweet Home shot 40 percent from the field, while Sisters shot 36 percent. Sweet Home shot 62 percent from the free throw line, while Sisters shot 73 percent.
The Huskies scored 19 points off of turnovers, while Sisters scored 11. Sweet Home had 15 turnovers. Sisters had 24.
Coulter led Sweet Home scoring with 14 points. Tow added 13; Tyler, seven; Zanona, seven; Bryson, four; Keesee, two; and Moore, two. Playing but not scoring were Holly, Luttmer, Korn and Baxter.
Sweet Home 13 11 13 12 – 49
Newport 3 7 12 10 – 32