Jordan Porter takes aim at the basket on a successful free throw attempt in the Vikings’ home game against Moose Lake/Willow River. Although the Vikings led at halftime, the Rebels came back and wore down the Vikings, taking the game 77-55, riding a deep, strong bench. Porter led the team with 18 points. Staff photo/Brian Larsen
Not many teams are quicker than Cook County, but the Moose Lake/Willow River Rebels played with a maddeningly fast pace last Friday night, and they definitely have a squad full of players with quick feet.
Behind those quick feet and a deep bench, the Rebels used an incredibly strong second half of play to post a 77-55 win over a game Viking team.
Playing in the Pam Taylor gym in front of family and friends, the 4-1 Vikings hoped to beat a tough 2-A school, and for a while, it looked like the Vikings would prevail.
The Rebels scored the first six points of the game off of lay-ups. They used a weave of passes, playing catch from the three-point line as players flew about the perimeter until one Rebel would get behind the Vikings’ defense and score an easy lay-up off of a nice pass. If it was dizzying to watch, it had to be frustrating to play defense against.
Down 12-4 the Vikings staged a comeback and chipped away at the lead until the score was 18-16, with the Rebels’ only up two points. Moose Lake scored two points before Will Ramberg drove for two points and Jordan Porter tied the score at 20-20 after muscling up a shot in the lane while being heavily guarded. Porter, who was fouled as he shot, made his free throw to give the Vikings the lead.
Both teams traded baskets before Pete Sutton hit a two-point shot to put the Vikings up 25-22. The Rebels would come back to take a 26-25 lead before Porter hit back-to-back shots to give the Vikings the lead again, 29-28.
Daunte Deschampe, a 6’2” freshman who came into the game mid-way through the first half, gave the Vikings a big spark on defense and offense with his rebounding and all-around hustle. He scored a bucket late in the first half to put the Vikings up by 3. Moose Lake hit a three-pointer from the corner to tie it and with time almost gone Will Ramberg made a three-point shot to give the Vikings a 34-31 lead at the break.
Unfortunately, because Daunte had played in the B-game, he was only allowed to play in half of the varsity game under the state’s guideline.
The Rebels came out fast again to take a 38-34 lead in just a couple of minutes of play. Ray Gordon hit backto back shots to tie the score but the Rebels kept gaining steam, running their offense to perfection, getting to the basket over and over again. Adam Dorr hit a three-point shot to make the score 46-40 in favor of the Rebels, but the Vikings would never get that close again, and trailed by 10 points until the last five minutes of the game, when the Rebels tacked on 12 more points to win by 22 points.
Jordan Porter led the team with 18 points. Will Ramberg finished with 13, Ray Gordon 11, Adam Dorr 7, Daunte Deschampe 7, and Pete Sutton had 2 points.
Viking head coach Colin Everson reflected on the game. “I thought we competed well in the first half,” he said. “The guys stepped up defensively for the most part and brought a few ideas we focused on in practice and applied them in the first half.
“The second half we may have run out of steam. We got away from some of the things we were doing defensively and were a little sluggish offensively.
“Overall, this was a good test of where we are as a team. Moose Lake is a solid AA school and we saw some good things from the guys. We were also able to see some of the things we still need to work on. I thought the refs did fine, we need to be more disciplined across the board on offense and defense and we need to eliminate some silly fouls. If we do those things, that will put us in a better position down the stretch.”
Vikings curtail Wrenshall Wrens
The Vikings hosted the Wrenshall Wrens on Tuesday, December 18, in their last home game of the year.
For most of the first half the Vikings held a six point lead. Anytime they would stretch it beyond that a Wrenshall player would hit a three and close the gap.
Late in the first half the Wrens pulled to within three points. With the score 23-19, Daunte Deschampe hit a two, a Wren player put in a three to make the score 25-22. And as the play on the floor quickened, Jordan Porter made a three and after a steal with the halftime buzzer about to go off, Will Ramberg put up a 30 footer that hit nothing but net. The Vikings led 31-22 at the break and would go on to win 74-59.
Will Ramberg led the team with 29 points. Pete Sutton scored 14, Jordan Porter had 13, Ray Gordon netted 8—and made some great assists, Daunte Deshamape had 7, Joe Deschampe 2, and Tate Crawford had 1 point.
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