Foul troubles plagued the No. 9-ranked Sherman Huskies in their 64-54 non-league boys’ basketball loss in Moro Tuesday to Heppner.
Starters Treve Martin and Jacob Justesen both sat early in the second quarter with three fouls apiece, and they both later fouled out, which gave Heppner a chance to come back from a 35-25 halftime deficit with a 39-19 second-half run.
Overall, the Mustangs attempted 28 free throws to Sherman’s 12, as Weston Putnam, Patrick Collins and C.J. Kudle combined for 57 points.
Putnam wound up with a game-high 25.
“We have to be smarter when we are in foul trouble and cannot give the officials a reason to call fouls on us,” said Sherman coach Bill Blevins.
Even with Martin and Justesen on the bench, the Huskies were able to gain an early advantage in the scoring column.
Heppner led 16-15 after one quarter, but Sherman used 13 second-quarter points from Max Martin to spur a 20-9 run and a 35-25 halftime cushion.
All told, Sherman hit 22 field goals, three 3-pointers and went 7 for 12 from the line.
Max Martin ended up with 20 points, Isaiah Coles was good for 19 and Justesen had six points.
Coming into the season, Blevins wanted his team to play tough defense and use aggression and physicality for rebounds.
He looks to see further improvements in those two areas in the future.
“We had trouble keeping the much bigger and physical Mustangs off of the offensive boards without being called for fouls,” Blevins said. “We have to do a better job of blocking out against bigger teams. We just can’t give second-and-third-chance opportunities to a good team.”
Sherman (3-2 overall) goes to Klamath Falls for the two-day Compass Classic with an opening tilt at 7:15 p.m. Friday against Triad (3-3).
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