Austin Packers boys’ basketball edged by Owatonna Tuesday evening 60-59

Evan Dushek scored 22 points, including two free throws with just over 2:00 left in the game to put the Owatonna Huskies ahead for good against the Austin Packers Tuesday night on their way to a 60-59 win.

It was Senior Night for Austin at Packer Gym, and the Packers used threes from Tony Ciola, Jacob Venega and Lero Oman to jump out to a 20-8 lead, only to see the Huskies rally back to end the half on a 20-9 run to trail by only one at the half, 29-28.  Owatonna opened the second half on a 12-7 run to take a 40-38 lead and later pushed their lead to as big as 56-49, but Austin countered with a run of their own, keyed by a 15-foot jump shot by Moses Idris and a steal and a dunk from Agwa Nywesh to rally back and take a 57-56 lead with 2:23 left.  But Dushek, a 6’7″ sophomore forward drained two free throws with just over 2:00 left to give Owatonna a lead they would not relinquish.

Moses Idris led the Packers in scoring with 15 points, while Okey Okey added 13 points, Teyghan Hovland chipped in eight points, Agwa Nywesh was held to five points by the Huskies, Pierre Lilly tallied five points and Ochan Obany, Lero Oman, Tony Ciola and Jacob Venega all scored three points apiece for Austin, who saw a six-game winning streak snapped and fell to 13-4 in the Big 9 Conference and 17-4 overall on the season.  The Packers are now tied for third in the conference with Rochester Century at 13-4, as both teams trail second-place Rochester Mayo at 14-3 and Mankato East in first at 17-0.

Next up for Austin will be a Big 9 road game Friday night at Red Wing, with the varsity tip-off at 7:30 p.m.