|
|
The Cook County boys’ young varsity squad had a tough game to start the 2022-2023 season, facing a loaded Mountain Iron-Buhl (MIB) team on December 8 at home.
Fresh off winning the nine-man state football championship, MIB is loaded with great athletes. Through three games lightening quick guard Asher Zubich is averaging 31 points a game. Zubich and Josh Holmes each scored 21 points against Cook County.
At halftime the Vikings were down 62-12 and ended up losing 93-21, scoring only nine points in the second half against a very tough defense played by the Rangers.
It didn’t help that the Viking’s bench was thin while MIB had a strong bench to complement their starters. Also, the boys are learning new offense and defense systems under first-year Head Coach Keaton Riley.
Down early by a lot of points, the Vikings never quit. Coach Riley was proud of the effort put out by his players. “We fought our tails off all the way until the end. We are dealing with some injuries and program-imposed suspensions, so our varsity rotation was pretty thin. We had a player fresh off a fractured ankle play 20-plus minutes, and Denali Blackwell battled through cramps the entire game.
“I’m proud of our effort and our boys are in good spirits. We knew MIB would be one of, if not, the best team we play all season and we didn’t quit. I like our effort a lot, we just have to get deeper and healthier.
“I also really like that all six of our core rotational guys scored points. I really think a strength of this team is that we have multiple guys that can score if needed. Any given night, one of our starters can get 10-plus points. And although we scored 21 points, our offense looked improved. We compared film from last year to this year. Our movement is improved, and we are getting better looks. Shooting 2-19 from beyond the three-point line hurts. We will have better shooting nights,” said Coach Riley.
Sophomore Denali Blackwell led the Vikings with ten points. Derek Smith, the team’s lone senior starter, had three points. Sophomores Rohan Rude and Jordan Backstrom each had two points and juniors Amos Falter and Recko Helmerson-Skildum each scored two points.
Leave a Reply