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The Packers put all of the pressure on the Huskies down the stretch, but all of the breaks went Owatonna’s way in the final minute as the Huskies claimed a 71-66 win in a boys basketball game in Packer Gym Friday night.

Dakota Retterath, who finished with 21 points, 10 rebounds and four assists, tied the game at 66 when he converted a lay-up with 55 seconds left in the game. Owatonna responded by grabbing two offensive rebounds on its next possession before Nolan Ginskey drew a foul and hit two free throws and after Retterath had a lay-up rim out, Owatonna’s Nathan Theis hit two free throws to ice the game.

“It’s tough, but you can’t really stop it right now,” Retterath said. “In the first part of the season, we didn’t really use our teammates, but in the new year we’ve been trusting our teammates a lot more. We all believed in our teammates and we went to work inside (tonight). During warm ups my shot was on and I trusted it tonight.”

Owatonna (12-6 overall) took a 60-55 lead when Leyton Williams connected on a three, but the Packers didn’t go away. Senior Isaac Osgood hit a three to bring Austin within 60-58 and senior Peyton Ransom scored to tie things up at 60 with 3:48 left.

Junior Micah Christopherson also hit three big three-pointers off the bench on the night for Austin (6-12 overall).

“They made some plays down the stretch and Owatonna got up a couple of times. We could’ve easily just given up, but we didn’t do that. Dakota did an awesome job knowing he had a mismatch and Micah Christopherson hit a couple of big threes off the bench for us,” Austin head coach Jamaal Gibson said. “We just need to do a better job of finding a way to get the ball in our playmaker’s hands in big moments. That’s on me, ultimately.”

Ransom finished with 17 points for the Packers and Osgood had five points, five rebounds and five assists. 

Austin opened the game on a 9-2 run, but the Huskies scored the next 12 to go up 14-9. Retterath hit a three to give the Packers a 24-18 lead with 4:20 left in the first half, but the Huskies held a 29-26 advantage at halftime.

Owatonna beat Austin 78-61 on Dec. 15.

Owatonna 29  42  –  71

Austin 26  40  –  66

Austin scoring: Dakota Retterath, 21; Peyton Ransom, 17; Micah Christopherson, 9; Banyaan Omot, 8; Isaac Osgood, 5; Cole Hebrink, 4; Jackson Clausman, 2