Huskies earn 2 wins to start off the season

OTHELLO — The Othello Huskies basketball team got its season off to a good start with two victories. The first was on the road Tuesday with a 69-42 win over Omak and the second was in an exciting home matchup against the Connell Eagles Thursday night.

“We started off a little rough in the first quarter and we brought it up in the second quarter,” said LJ Nunez, a sophomore for the Huskies.

After defeating Omak handily on the road, the Huskies were excited to return home to face Connell. The Huskies started off very strong in the first quarter with Quade Gonzalez sinking back-to-back threes and Nunez keeping pressure under the net to earn six points, but Connell would quickly gain momentum and pull ahead of the Othello toward the end of the quarter.

The second quarter was a shootout, with each team taking the lead at some point. By the end of the half, both the Huskies and the Eagles were tied at 28.

Nunez said the halftime talk the team had with Head Coach Juan Garcia got the team going for the second half.

“Move the ball more, don’t force, don’t be selfish,” he said. “Boxing out is a really big thing he told us to do. That’s one thing we’ve been working on at practice.”

Coming into the third quarter, Connell took a significant lead, but Othello fought back and cut their lead to 47-51 as they headed into the final quarter. The teams would continue their physical battle until a few fouls from Connell and a quick offensive front from Nunez gave the Huskies their 73-65 victory.

Garcia credited the success of Thursday’s matchup to the Huskies bench who stepped up and showed how hard they’ve been working in the offseason.

“I’ve been telling these guys all year, it takes a whole team; it’s not just one person who wins the game,” said the coach. “We have a lot of ball players, but the difference this year is it’s a team; they all want to push each other.”

The home crowd echoed the excitement of a home victory throughout the gym on Thursday after some tough losses in the prior season. Garcia said this is something that should continue as the year progresses, and the players push themselves to get better.

As the Huskies prepare for their next matchup, he said, it will be important to remain defensively sound and to win as a team.

“We have a lot of basketball players coming in here; they play basketball all year and I just feel like learning to win is going to be the toughest thing because they never felt it (in basketball),” said Garcia.

With two wins under their belt, the Huskies have started to push themselves towards one of their goals this season, Nunez said: showing the competition who they are.

“I know these are nonleague teams, but I’m looking forward to playing our league teams,” he said.

The Huskies will remain at home for their next matchup on Tuesday where they face Sageview at 7 p.m.

BOX SCORE:

GAME ONE:

OTHL: 69

OMAK: 42

GAME TWO:

OTHL: 14-14-19-26: 73

CNNL: 15-13-23-14: 65

OTHELLO HUSKIES ROSTER:

Name, Jersey, Grade

Draiden Tovar, 0, 9

Quade Gonzalez IV, 1, 12

Juan Tovar, 3, 12

Syrus Peppinger, 4, 12

Elijah Vasquez, 5, 12

Brodee Henley, 10, 11

Gavin Simmons, 12, 11

LJ Nunez, 15, 10

Kingston Valdez, 22, 12

Josh Lawson, 24, 12

Luis Farias Villanueva, 34, 12

    Othello senior Syrus Peppinger moves down toward the hoop after gaining possession of the ball.
  

    Othello junior Gavin Simmons gets ready to make a free throw during Thursday’s matchup.
  

    Kingston Valdez, an OHS senior, prepares to add onto the scoreboard with a pair of free throws during the game against Connell.
  

    Huskies junior Brodee Henley hooks towards the box as the team puts offensive pressure on Connell.
  

    LJ Nunez, a sophomore for OHS, quickly moves down the court and works to maneuver around a Connell defender Thursday.