OTHELLO — An aggressive Othello defense and what Warden Coach Brent Erdman said was a depleted Warden bench combined to give the Huskies boys basketball team a decisive 71-28 victory Wednesday in Othello.

“We’re still trying to get healthy as a team,” Erdman said. “We’re missing a lot of kids, so we’re not at full strength. So that’s tough.”

Warden scored the game’s first two points, but once Othello took a 3-2 lead, they never trailed again. The Huskies led 14-12 at the end of the first quarter, and Othello Coach Roman Pruneda said his team picked up the tempo from there.

“We came out a little flat. We weren’t playing as aggressive on defense as I wanted them to, being a little timid,” Pruneda said. “But as we started going in the quarter, the kids picked it up. They found more of a sense of urgency from there on.”

The Huskie defense shut Warden down in the second quarter. All of Warden’s four points in the second quarter came on free throws. Warden’s first basket after the first quarter came with 3:12 remaining in the third quarter.

Othello’s defense was so effective that Warden turned the ball over on backcourt violations, unable to get the ball across halfcourt in the required 10 seconds. Othello also forced Warden into shot clock violations, where the Cougars couldn’t get off a shot in 30 seconds.

“The tenacity and the focus. The whole team just locked in,” Pruneda said of Othello’s defense. “That was our goal today, to be locked in.”

The Huskies concentrated on shutting down Warden guard Anthony Gutierrez, Pruneda said.

“We wanted to keep the pressure on their best player. Pretty good kid. He’s been helping their team and carrying their team. We wanted to take him out of the equation,” Pruneda said.

Erdman said he was encouraged by the way players who normally wouldn’t have been playing responded to the challenge.

“I saw some young kids working, and having to play at a higher level. I suited five (junior varsity) kids today, and they played a lot. So I’m getting to see them play at a higher level, which is a really good thing for us moving forward,” he said.

Pruneda said the good defense helped spark the Huskie offense.

“We got more transition points than we usually do, so that helped out a lot. But even in the half-court offense, we moved the ball a lot better than we usually do,” Pruneda said.

The win evens the Huskie record at 4-4, with the next game Jan. 3 against league opponent Selah in Othello. Selah also is 4-4, but is 2-0 in the Central Washington Athletic Conference.

“It’s a good game for us, getting ready for Selah,” he said.

Cheryl Schweizer can be reached at [email protected].