Instead of starting his usual lineup, Viking head coach Colin Everson started five players from Grand Portage against Fond du Lac in the game played at the Grand Portage community center last Friday, Feb. 15.
Taking the floor for the Vikings were Ray Gordon, Jordan Porter, Joe Deschampe, Caide Northrup, and Keegan Morrison.
Ray Gordon wasted no time, driving to the basket through heavy traffic on two straight plays to put the Vikings up 4-0.
Stopping the potent Fond du Lac offense on the next series, Jordan Porter came down the floor and hit a long three. Gordon rebounded a Fond du Lac miss and flew down the floor, finding Devon Premo with a pass. Premo drove to the basket and threw up a shot high on the backboard that went through the net to put the Vikings up 9-0.
Fond du Lac would score on its next two possessions, but the Vikings continued to add points of their own, taking a 20-8 lead. After a furious first half of play, the Vikings would go into the locker room up 43-33 as both teams worked the ball inside for high percentage shots.
Coach Everson substituted liberally through the fast-paced game.
Graced with some rangy, streaky-fast ball handlers who knew how to get to the hoop, Fond du Lac would tie the score 71-71. At that point Viking senior forward/guard Will Ramberg took over, making a couple of good steals and scoring the last six points for the Vikings to seal the win 81-76.
Ray Gordon had a great night on offense and defense, plus pulling down a bevy of rebounds. Gordon finished with a team-high 32 points. Will Ramberg ended his night with 23 points, Jordan Porter had 18, Pete Sutton and Adam Dorr each had 3, and scoring 2 points each were Devon Premo, Joe Deschampe, and Caide Northrup.
“It was a fun experience to play up in Grand Portage and the atmosphere was fantastic! The team played well and we got a lot of players involved which is always good to see,” said head coach Colin Everson.
Vikings beat Polar Bears by 13
If the Vikings were tired from the game against Fond du Lac, the next day they didn’t show it as they faced a talented Floodwood Polar Bears team at home.
Jordan Porter had the hot start for the Vikings, scoring six of their first eight points. The Vikings would go up 18-8 early with Pete Sutton knocking down a three and Will Ramberg making two lay-ups and two free throws after getting fouled in the act of shooting.
Midway through the first half, Ray Gordon hit Will Ramberg with a pretty bounce pass through traffic, the ball finding Ramberg who put in a beautiful reverse lay-up. The two worked this play several times in the game, Ramberg finding a soft spot in the Polar Bears’ defense and Gordon finding him with a timely pass.
Just before half Ramberg scored on a drive to the basket, Adam Dorr hit a long three, Jordon Porter blew by his man for two, and Pete Sutton made two free throws to give the Vikings a 38-22 halftime lead.
The Vikings would go up by 20 points after Ramberg pulled down a rebound and sprinted the length of the court past the defense for a lay-up to make the score 56-36.
With the game clock at about 4 minutes, Jordan Porter committed his fifth foul and was done for the night. Floodwood went on a 14-3 run to bring the score to 59-50. Ray Gordon took over, scoring 11 points on drives and pull-up jumpers with Ramberg adding three more points and the Viking defense held, with the Vikings up 73-60 when the buzzer sounded.
Showing great consistency, Will Ramberg scored 23 points for the second night in a row to lead the team. Pete Sutton finished with 17, Ray Gordan 16, Jordan Porter 11, Keegan Morrison 3, and Adam Dorr 3 points in the game.
“Overall, it was a good pair of games. Saturday we played arguably the best half of defense in the first half holding Floodwood to 22 points. It is great to see improvement in some of the areas that we are focusing on in practice,” said head coach Colin Everson.
The Vikings are now 12-9 on the year.
The Vikings played their last two games of the year before playoffs this week, one on Thursday and one on Friday. Both games were played after the paper was put to bed.
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