OTHELLO — The Othello Huskies (3-6) overcame the Ephrata Tigers (2-7) 61-57 after a late comeback attempt by the Tigers. Huskies head coach Juan Garcia was pleased with the composure his players showed Friday.  

“Keeping our composure, we went up, and then we just got back in it and closed the game,” he said.  

The Huskies came out fast to start the game and took an 18-11 lead by the end of the first quarter. The Tigers stepped up defensively in the second to slow down Othello, but still trailed 32-22. In the second half, Ephrata hit its stride and began to find the basket more consistently. While the Huskies maintained the lead for the entire game, a series of late threes by Brady Hendrick that put them within one point gave Othello a scare. However, the Huskies held off the late comeback after a game-sealing three by Kingston Valdez.  

“Just got to start earlier. I do like the finish, but it's got to start earlier. I don't think we had enough guys ready to go,” Tigers Head Coach Rick Walter said.  

Both teams pushed the pace of the game from the tip-off Friday. The Huskies, however, utilized pressure in transition defense to capture momentum and get on the scoreboard first.

“Game plan tonight was defense and push the ball in transition. We're all healthy right now. We got kind of sick for a little bit,” Garcia said.  

On offense, Othello slowed the pace and leaned on ball movement to find open shots. Over the course of the first quarter, the Huskies built a strong lead over the Tigers. LJ Nunez topped it off with a buzzer-beater three to give them an 18-11 lead going into the second quarter.  

In the second, the Tigers remained competitive and did not let the game slip out of reach. Moments like Brice Strickler getting fouled on a three-point shot gave the Tigers a boost in momentum at times. However, the Huskies still outscored Ephrata to increase their lead to 32-22 at halftime.  

With a strong lead, Garcia told his team at halftime not to take their foot off the gas pedal.  

“The third quarter is always our quarter (where) we kind of let go of the pedal. I just told them, ‘Hey, we got to come out here and keep the same intensity. We can't. We cannot let up,'” he said.  

While the Huskies continued to push the pace through players like Nunez and Valdez, the Tigers started to force a shift in momentum in the second half. In the third quarter, the Huskies only outscored the Tigers 15-14.  

However, it was the fourth quarter that almost made the difference. Late in that quarter, the Tigers trailed 53-46. They had shots starting to go their way, but Nunez was still a force on the other end of the court.  

Hendrick captured lightning in a bottle after hitting back-to-back three pointers to make it 58-52. The Tigers were starting to get stops on defense and find Hendrick at the other end for scores. After a contested layup and another stop on defense, Ephrata turned to Hendrick once again for another three, which he sank to put them within one point at 58-57. 

“We needed more than just him, so it's a good thing he got it going, or (it) might have been ugly,” Walter said.  

Despite their late push, Nunez was able to facilitate the offense to find an open Valdez for a game-sealing three-point shot to put Othello over Ephrata 61-57. Gracia credited the win to how his players moved the ball and showed up on defense.  

“It just comes back to moving the ball. When you move the ball, and everybody's scoring, everybody feels involved, and they play harder. They're going to defend harder. Ball movement and defense was what got us the win tonight,” he said.  

The Tigers and Huskies each had games Jan. 3, but the results for those were not available at the time of press. The following game for Ephrata is Jan. 6 at East Valley with tip-off set for 7 p.m. Othello travels to Ellensburg on Jan. 6 to play the Bulldogs at 7 p.m.  

Gracia feels confident his players are finding their rhythm and hitting their stride.  

“Just keep getting better every time defensively and moving the ball. Today looks like more guys are trusting each other, so that's just the first start, and it looks like we're getting it going now,” he said.  

BOX SCORE:  

EPHT: 11-11-14-21: 57
OTHL: 18-14-15-14: 61 

    The Tigers’ Cooper Black (10) directs traffic on offense against the Huskies. Tigers’ Head Coach Rick Walter said his team started the game too slow which played into the final result.
  

    The Huskies’ LJ Nunez celebrates with Kingston Valdez after he just hit the game-sealing three-pointer for Othello.
  

    LJ Nunez (15) shoots a fade-away shot over Cooper Black (10). Nunez was a driving force of the Huskies on offense Friday and finished the game with 27 points.