Three weeks ago the Vikings’ junior forward Will Ramberg hit a long three-point shot at the buzzer to give the Vikings a 63-60 win over the Two Harbors Agates in Two Harbors.
Not much has changed since then as Two Harbors traveled up the shore to Grand Marais on Friday, January 5 to play another exciting game of basketball. If these teams played 10 times each would win five games by the narrowest of margins, that’s how even they are.
The two squads went into the locker room with the score knotted 27-27. Cook County would take several three- to five-point leads in the second half, only to have the Agates quickly tie the score.
In the wild last minute and a half of the game, Two Harbors took a 59-56 point lead. With less than 30 seconds to play Ramberg once again hit a long three to tie the score. The Vikings rebounded a miss by the Agates, and Ramberg found Pete Sutton in the corner and Sutton hit nothing but net on his three-point shot to give the Vikings a 62-59 lead with 18 seconds on the clock.
Everyone in the gym knew that Two Harbors coach Bill Anderson, who had called a timeout when his team had brought the ball over the halfcourt line, would make sure the ball was in the hands of 6’3” junior forward Jayden Ruberg’s hands for the last shot.
Viking head coach Mitch Dorr also knew Ruberg would be the guy to get the ball and he sent two Vikings to guard Ruberg on the inbound play. It was to no avail. The effort was there, but Ruberg is quick, strong, a great ball handler and very tough to defend when he wants to shoot. And he certainly wanted to shoot.
Ruberg got the ball and dribbled to the other side of the court and went up for a jump shot from behind the line that swished through the net to tie the score.
With two seconds on the clock, the Vikings inbounded to Ramberg who threw the ball the length of the court and hit the rim. Had it gone in, the Vikings would have won at the buzzer.
Two Harbors took a 69-62 lead in overtime but a three-pointer by Sutton and back-to-back baskets by Dyami Blackwell, one of those also a three-pointer, and two-point bucket by a Two Harbors player, made the score 71-70, with the Vikings trailing by a point.
The Agates would get four more points and the Vikings only one more—a free throw by Trusen Gordon, and the Vikings fell 75-71 to take a tough loss.
Dyami Blackwell led the team in scoring 23 with points. Will Ramberg had 22 points, Pete Sutton 15, Trusen Gordon 5, Jordan Porter 3, and Cade Northrup scored 3 points in the game.
Following the game head coach Mitch Dorr reflected, “To be honest, I think the physical effort and hustle was there versus Two Harbors but I was very disappointed in our mental effort. We did not execute our game plan on defense and had numerous mental breakdowns. If we score over 70 points, we should be winning.
“I was very happy with Will Ramberg who has been very consistent for us throughout the season. He stepped up and made some huge shots to keep us in the game. As a team we make 12 three point shots which is a compliment to our shooters. The only drawback is that we are tending to rely on the outside shot too much…”
The Ely Timberwolves come to town for a 3 p.m. game on Saturday, January 13. The next home game after that will be played against the Carlton Bulldogs on Friday, January 19. The boys will take the floor at 6:30 p.m. Come out and cheer for your Vikings!
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