Sweet Home was unable to overcome a lackluster first half Friday evening at Junction City and lost 40-32 in boys basketball.
The Tigers jumped out to an 11-4 lead in one quarter, and they led 18-8 by halftime.
The Huskies staged an offensive surge beginning in the third quarter to get within a point by the end of the quarter.
“We had a serious comeback,” said Coach Brandon Gaskey. “Their coach called two or three timeouts in a row to stop our run.”
It didn’t stop the run until the Huskies were within a point.
Junction City’s Spencer Osburn drained a three to build a 20-8 Tigers lead two minutes into the second half. Hunter Jutte answered with a three to make it 20-11. Nick Gibson scored a bucket and then hit a free throw to give the Tigers a 23-11 lead.
Husky Kyler Gaskey hit a shot and a free throw, and Hayden Martinez answered to make the score 25-14, then in the last two minutes of the third quarter, the Huskies started closing the gap, with five field goals by Jake Bangot, Gaskey and Brycen Mitten to make it 25-24.
Bryon Brown scored another bucket for Junction City, and Mitten hit another shot to end the quarter 27-26.
“It was a very physical game,” Gaskey said, and “we really didn’t wake up until the second half.”
The Huskies switched into a 1-3-1 zone, and the Tigers had a hard time responding to it, he said. The defense fed the offensive run.
Junction City began pulling away in the fourth quarter.
Gaskey said the Huskies started getting the foul calls, and it limited them. The Huskies also had a tough night on the boards, rebounding just 22 times to Junction City’s 30.
“We did our best, fought throughout and came up short,” he said. “I really look forward, the whole team does, to playing them again.”
The Huskies finished shooting 33.3 percent from the field and foul line, while Junction City shot 42.1 percent from the field and 50 percent from the free throw line. The Huskies had seven steals. Junction City had eight.
Mitten led Sweet Home scoring with eight points. Bangot added seveon. Kyler Gaskey and Jutte added six with five rebounds each.
The Huskies travel to Sutherlin Friday night and host Sisters Tuesday.
Sutherlin has defeated the Huskies twice this year, 54-40 and then 59-50.
“I still think it’s anybody’s league to be had,” Gaskey said. “We can compete with anybody.”
Sutherlin went to overtime against Junction City and won it only by a point.
“We’re going to get after it in practice and get our rebound woes worked out,” Gaskey said.
Sweet Home will need to be more controlled and consistent in scoring and spreading it out. Sutherlin is another team without a lot of scorers. They’ll need to limit Noah Caillier while keeping the rest of the team from filling in for him.
The team has two really good shooters, a great point guard and scrappers who can put up points if they need to, Gaskey said. “We can shore some things up defensively.”
The Huskies’ zone has gotten a lot better, and it may make a difference in their next outing, he said. Ryan Adams, Justin Tow and Daniel Virtue have been defending against Caillier nicely, and he’s an all-state performer.
Sweet Home 4 4 18 6 – 32
Junction City 11 7 9 13 – 40
Sweet Home scoring: Brycen Mitten 8, Jake Bangot 7, Kyler Gaskey 6, Hunter Jutte 6, Justin Tow 3, Daniel Virtue 2, Ryan Adams, Kevin Seiber.
Junction City scoring: Hayden Martinez 15, Osburn 9, Brown 6, Gibson 3, Potter 3, Hutchinson 2, Vandenberge 2, Prescott, Hawkins.
Sweet Home 67,
Cottage Grove 43
The Huskies dominated the Cottage Grove Lions at home on Jan. 27 with a 67-43 victory.
“We just shot the lights out and had energy all the way through,” Gaskey said. Cottage Grove doesn’t have a strong inside game, and the Huskies were able to minimize the impact of three good outside shooters, among whom is Tucker Porter, formerly of Sweet Home.
“It all stemmed from the defensive energy in the first half,” Gaskey said.
Sweet Home led 26-14 after a quarter and 39-26 at halftime. The Huskies led 49-36 after three quarters and then outscored Cottage Grove 18-7 in the fourth quarter.
“That was the fourth or fifth game in a row our energy was good,” Gaskey said.
The Huskies pulled down 28 rebounds, 12 steals, with 12 turnovers, and shot 48.3 percent from the field and 50 percent from the foul line. The Lions had 29 rebounds, three steals, with 16 turnovers, and shot 27 percent from the field and 76 percent from the free throw line.
Jutte led scoring with 20 points. He had six steals and five assists.
Cottage Grove 14 12 10 7 – 43
Sweet Home 26 13 10 18 – 67
Cottage Grove scoring: Kory Parent 11, Sentman 10, Porter 9, Hopkins 8, Hagewood 4, Britton 1, Murphy, Taylor, Levings, Gipson, Ahlwardt.
Sweet Home scoring: Jutte 20, Tow 9, Adams 8, Gaskey 8, Virtue 7, Mitten 5, Andre Holmes 4, Kevin Seiber 3, Bangot 3, Eric Burks, Justin Carpenter, Keanu Aiona.