MADRAS – Although blessed with a solid core of returners, there were some questions as to whether or not the Sherman boys’ basketball team had the depth and firepower to make up for the loss of four graduated seniors.
The No. 2-ranked Huskies cast any of those doubts aside this season and capped a successful weekend with a 74-44 victory over Condon-Wheeler for their third straight Big Sky Conference title Saturday in Madras.
“We came into this season with the same mindset we’ve had in the past, but I don’t think people took us as seriously as in the past years,” Sherman senior Treve Martin said. “The guys that needed to step up this year did that, and more. Our leadership, from top-to-bottom, was also key.”
After cruising past Arlington by a 61-26 margin Friday to move into the finals, Sherman led 16-6 through one quarter, 33-14 at the half and 52-28 entering the final period.
The Huskies held the Knights to 16 of 66 shooting from the field for 24 percent, and only Bryce Harrison and Hunter Winslow amassed double figures.
Condon-Wheeler committed 15 turnovers and was outrebounded 52-48, and this defensive execution made it the 17th time this season that the Sherman defense has held an opponent to 45 points or fewer.
“That has been the key to our success all year,” Sherman coach Gary Lewis said of the defense. “I still don’t think that we have reached our potential yet, especially on the offensive end, but we play tremendous defense. When these guys lay their ears back and go after people, they are really tough. The nice thing is, on some teams they have one or two kids that are stoppers and the rest are just good team defenders, but I have four or five kids out there that I can put on anybody and they can be a stopper for us.”
Harrison finished with 19 points, Winslow added 10 points and 11 rebounds, Trey Homer chipped in six points and three boards, and Cooper Johnson went for five points and 10 rebounds to lead the Knights (17-9 overall, 10-4 league).
Justesen wound up scoring 12 of his game-high 26 points in the first half, and the Big Sky Player of the Year, tacked on 11 rebounds, five assists, three blocked shots and five steals in 26 minutes of action.
Treve Martin dropped 19 points, 14 rebounds, two blocks and three steals, Luke Martin and Keenan Coles tallied nine points each, with Martin contributing eight rebounds, six assists and four blocks to his stat line.
Reese Blake finished with six points and both Owen Christiansen and Caleb Fritts posted two points, Tyler Jones had one point and Makoa Whitaker pulled down five rebounds.
With more minutes on the hardwood, Coles, Luke Martin, Blake and Whitaker, there hasn’t been much of a drop-off in play for the Huskies, something Justesen was proud to see through the season.
“Treve and I just tried to help those kids who were stepping into new roles along the way and we have just kept it rolling all season,” Justesen said. “We have had some hiccups here and there, but everyone has stepped up and played great.”
During the season, Sherman started on a four-game win streak until a loss on Dec. 16, 2017 to 3A Cascade Christian (55-49), and then embarked on a 16-game winning streak, but suffered a 66-51 road loss at Yakama Tribal on Feb. 6.
With a four-game winning streak heading into state action, Lewis doesn’t see a group that is settling for a district championship, they want more.
“There is an internal drive within these guys that is pretty rare in my years of coaching,” Lewis said. “One of the reasons why I got back into coaching is to watch the growth of those kids. They deserve all the credit. They go out there and work hard every day and the proof is in this hardware tonight.”
The Huskies (24-2, 14-0) have to win one more game this Saturday at home to punch their ticket to Baker City.
Lewis and the Husky players have it in their minds that the targets are squarely on this team, but many of them have enjoyed success on the big stage before, so it all comes down to playing their game.
“I think if we continue to play good, hard-nosed defense and we clean up a few things on the offensive end, we think we have as good of a chance as anybody to win this thing for the third year in a row,” Lewis said. “That’s the mindset we are going in with. Complacency is not an issue for us right now, because to a player and to a coach, we know we still have room to grow. We have a few more practices to make that happen.”
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