Marist and Central, two of the top teams in the state, slipped through Husky defenses to defeat the boys basketball team 66-38 and 66-32 last week.
The Huskies faced both teams on the road, Marist on Wednesday and Central on Friday.
Friday night, Central “came out and jumped on us,” Coach Tim Little said. “It was 17-7 at end of the first. It was probably one of the most athletic teams we’ll see this year.”
Friday was the team’s first day with all of its football players out, Coach Little said. Central had just one player affected by state football playoffs after making the same round as the Huskies. That player was playing basketball by Tuesday last week.
Joining the Husky varsity squad were Cody Shipp, Charlie Fitzsimons, Ryan Elliott, Tim Faulconer and Kyle Aubert.
“Now we just need some practices to get people caught up to speed,” Coach Little said.
With a really tight game schedule, seven games in 11 days on Tuesday, “we’re able to recognize what we’re doing wrong, but we’re having a hard time finding time to fix it,” Coach Little said. Right now, the Huskies need to work on technique and positioning on defense. The team needs to play with more intensity and impose its will on opponents. Right now, opponents are doing what they want.
“The best thing about it, at the end, we’ve still got guys diving to the floor going after loose balls,” Coach Little said. The hardest thing right now is not focusing on wins and losses. The team needs to focus on making improvements that will affect wins and losses in mid-January.
Coach Little is looking forward to Christmas break when the team will get a chance to get some practices in, he said. “We’re learning on the fly right now.”
Central led 31-15 at halftime and 48-24 at the end of the third quarter. Justin Reynolds led Central scoring with 25 points. Ricco Fortuna added 15. Alex Stockner scored 13.
Aaron Forquer led Husky scoring with 11 points. Garrett Kauffman had 10 points. Shipp and Ravi Patel had six points each. Andy Worley scored four points with three steals and six rebounds. Elliott scored two.
The Huskies had eight rebounds total on the game. They didn’t have many chances to pull down more rebounds.
“They didn’t miss a shot,” Coach Little said of Central. “They shot the ball extremely well.”
Turnovers were a problem against Marist. The Huskies gave the ball up 30 times.
Marist led 18-10 after the first quarter and 34-21 at halftime. The Huskies trailed 56-31 at the end of the third.
Forquer led Husky scoring with 17 points and six rebounds. Worley scored 14. Alex Ritzman scored three. Kauffman and Patel scored two each. Kauffman had four rebounds and four assists. Patel, Forquer, Ritzman and Worley each had two steals.
“Both of these teams, if we play them again,” it’ll be at state playoffs, Coach Little said. Both teams are of that caliber. Central was ranked second in the state Friday. Marist was ranked fifth.
“That’s the only way you can get better,” Coach Little said. “You can’t get better playing teams that don’t make you compete or challenge you.”