A trip to the Mat-Su Valley last weekend proved to be a rough road for the Homer Mariner basketball team, as they dropped two games to Houston and Wasilla.

Against Houston, the Mariners led a back-and-forth contest in the second half after getting off to a slow start.

"Our defense was lax and we gave up some big threes in the first half (Houston was 5-10 from the three-point line)," said Homer head coach Russ Radliff. "In the second half, we had the lead a few times but they got back in it."

With just five seconds left on the game clock and Homer clinging to a one-point lead, the Hawks connected on a 10-footer. The Mariners quickly called a time-out with one last chance to win the game.

"We tried to get a play off but we couldn't," said Radliff. "We ended up taking a half court shot at the buzzer."

The shot did not drop and the Mariners lost a nailbiter, 48-47.

For Homer, Dean Devaney led with 17 points while Devin Kennelty grabbed 7 rebounds.

The Mariners shot only 13-24 from the foul line against Houston and were 8-22 from the field in the first half.

"The missed foul shots hurt us, especially in the second half," said Radliff. "We've been getting beat on the boards lately, but we only gave up four offensive boards to them, so that was good to see."

The day after their heartbreaking loss, the Mariners met up with undefeated Wasilla and were blown out, 75-28.

"Frankly, it wasn't much of a contest," said Radliff. "We came out tentative and they jumped out by 20 just like that. They're in a different league. They're big and strong and they just pounded us inside. They shot lights out on us and we turned the ball over like crazy."

John Knowles, a 6-7 center, was especially tough to contain, said Radliff.

"In the second quarter, they kept putting it in to him," he said. "He's as wide as a doorway and he's huge."

Up next for the Mariners is another pair of games against Valley schools. They'll play Colony on Friday at Alice Witte Gymnasium at 8:45 p.m. and Palmer on Saturday at 3:14 p.m.

"The Valley teams are all pretty tough," said Radliff.

Aaron Selbig can be reached at aaronselbig.@homernews.com.