HERMISTON – Still irked by a 48-47 loss to No. 1-ranked Horizon Christian in Saturday’s Big Sky conference district championship, the Sherman Huskies are poised to win two state sub-round games to make it back to Baker City in March.
But the mantra remains, one game at a time.
“I feel like all we have to do is take care of business whenever we play,” said point guard Jacob Justesen. “I feel like we could meet up with them later in Baker, and I feel like if we meet up with them again and play them like we did this time, we can beat them. We need to make those couple of extra shots that we missed tonight to give ourselves a chance.”
In the fourth quarter, the Huskies were down 44-42 with four minutes and 21 seconds left after a layup by Horizon senior Mason Bloomster.
On Sherman’s next two possessions, paint shots rimmed out and kept the Hawks in front.
At the 2:33 mark, Max Martin drilled a deep 3-pointer to give the Huskies a 45-44 lead.
Horizon misfired on its next time up the floor, but Bloomster was there with a rebound and a putback to make it a 46-45 score with 2:11 on the clock.
On Sherman’s next possession, an open layup bounced off the rim and out, so the Hawks were still up by one point.
After a Hawk timeout, they ran down the clock and had Jared Davis force a foul call on a layup attempt with 1:06 remaining.
Davis sank 1 of 2 to give the hawks a 47-45 edge.
On Sherman’s next chance, Martin missed a 3-pointer, but senior post Austin Kaseberg was fouled going for the rebound and sent to the line with 25.8 seconds left.
He calmly buried both shots to even the score at 47-all.
With 5.4 ticks on the clock, Bloomster had the ball stripped away and out of bounds. After the ensuing inbounds pass, Nick Andersen grabbed a loose ball and drove to the basket, but missed his layup and a foul was called on Sherman with .6 seconds left.
Andersen missed the first shot, so the game was still deadlocked.
Sherman coach Bill Blevins called a timeout to draw up a play, and then Andersen stepped to the line and swished his second try to give the Hawks a one-point lead.
With less than a second remaining, the Huskies had a Hail Mary pass hit the speaker atop midcourt and Horizon was awarded the ball.
Horizon got the ball in and time expired to give the No. 1-ranked team their fifth consecutive district championship.
“This was definitely the toughest one,” said Bloomster, who had seven points, four coming in the fourth quarter. “We never had one this close before. It all came down to the last split second. It was a crazy finish, but I am glad we were able to come out on top.”
Isaiah Coles had the hot hand early on with eight points and Martin drained two long balls, as Sherman led 18-10 through one quarter.
Ryan Aldrich and Andersen combined for 13 points in the second quarter and Coles paced the Huskies with eight more on the scoresheet as part of a 21-13 Horizon run to even the score at 31-apiece at halftime.
From the second quarter on, Coles was held scoreless.
Late in the third quarter, Horizon led 37-34, but Martin dropped a 3-point shot and Kyle Fields hit a layup to give the Huskies a 39-37 lead.
Andersen then finished the quarter with a 3-pointer of his own to give the Hawks a 40-39 lead through three quarters.
Horizon (24-3 overall, 14-0 league) had 19 field goals, five from long range, and made 5 of 8 free throws.
Davis managed just six points and Wesley Johnston added five, but the trio of Ryan Aldrich, RJ Hicks and Andersen combined for 30 points. Andersen had a season-high 15 points.
“They shut Jared and me down pretty much, but we had our secondary players do a good job of stepping up,” Bloomster said. “We showed that we have other weapons here and that we don’t have to rely on just two players to win games.”
In all, the Huskies (19-5, 11-3) had 17 field goals and they added five 3-pointers. From the line, Sherman hit on 8 of 9 shots.
Kaseberg, who battled foul troubles, had five points. Martin hit 12 points, Justesen added 10 and Fields tallied four points.
With this weekend in the rearview mirror, Fields is eyeing bigger and better things down the final stretch of the year.
“I am super excited for this chance,” Field said of playing in state sub-round action. “They are one of the best teams in the state and we can hang with them, if not get a shot to beat them. I think it is good for our team. It shows us we are right there.”
Blevins is hoping that Saturday’s finish could benefit the roster in the coming years.
“I think it is a good experience for our young kids to sit here and watch the other team cut down the net in front of our bench,” Blevins said. “Hopefully, that will leave a taste in our mouths and motivate us some for the future.”
No. 8-ranked Sherman next hosts No. 17 Life Christian (15-7, 10-4) at 7 p.m. tonight.
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