Top: Despite the attempted block, Rory Bakke scored two points on this shot against Hill City. Left: Somehow Jerod Spry (24) didn’t get a foul call as he attempted to go by the defense for a lay-up. Above: Lucas Philips (21), ignored the defense and took the ball straight up and shot over the top of the defender to score 2 of his 8 points against Hill City.
Senior Rory Bakke had one of his best games as a Viking, scoring 14 points, most baskets coming off of slashing lay-ups as he fought through the rugged Hill City Hornet defense, but it wasn’t enough and the Vikings fell 52-47 in a close 7A subsection play-off game.
Senior Lucas Phillips also had a good night, scoring 8 points. Jerod Spry, also a senior playing his last game for the Vikings, was held in check, scoring 4 points.
Playing at home, the Vikings fell behind early in the Tuesday, February 23 playoff game, but rallied by scoring the last 9 points in the first half to take a 24-21 lead into the locker room.
Freshman Will Ramberg had a big impact on the game when he came in off the bench. Ramberg scored six points straight to help lead the Vikings’ charge to a halftime lead. He ended up with 13 points, shooting six-for-six from the field while grabbing six rebounds.
“Will had a great game for us,” said Head Coach Mitch Dorr.
It looked like the Vikings were going to take control of the game in the second half, going up 39-31 at one point, but turnovers and too many missed shots gave Hill City opportunities to come back, and they did, finally taking a 46-45 lead with 3:30 to play. Most of those Hornet comeback points were scored by junior forward Kix Martin, a six-footer who was quick and a good leaper. The Vikings never could find anyone to match-up well with him, and Martin led all scorers with 27 points. Martin also ended his night with a half dozen blocked shots.
As the clock wound down the Vikings were forced to foul and the Hornets hit just enough of their free throws to take a 5-point lead.
With 13 seconds to play and down 3 points, the Vikings had one last chance to tie the game but lost the ball on an errant pass on their end of the floor and had to foul one last time, with Hornet guard Eric Watkins hitting both free throws to seal the Vikings’ defeat.
Sam O’Phelan ended his night with 6 points and Leif Anderson finished with 3 points.
The Vikings graduate Jerod Spry, Rory Bakke, Lucas Phillips and Ben Kurtz from this year’s squad.
“Our four seniors are great young men and we wish them the best,” said Coach Dorr. “We will need to fill a void with our guard play next season with the loss of Rory and Jerod. We will need some young guys who can handle the ball with both hands…We could be very, very young at the guard positions next season.”
On the positive side, the Vikings return a bevy of young players who received a lot of varsity action this year, and should be ready to make even bigger contributions next year.
Returning will be freshmen Trusen Gordon, who started many games; Leif Anderson, who started for the Vikings against Hill City; Dyami Blackwell, who broke his leg in warm-ups two weeks ago but started most games this year; and Will Ramberg, who came on strong late in the season. Also returning will be Marcus Logan, who often started, and Sam O’Phelan, who started every game this season, who will be seniors next year. Added to the mix are talented sophomores Mike Burton and Colton Furlong, and freshmen Tristen Bockovich, Ethan Deneweth, Lance Bartol and Ben Trepanier, along with a good group of eighth graders coming up.
Leave a Reply