The future is now for Vikings’ basketball with more and more freshman seeing varsity playing time. Here, in the game against Ely, three freshmen saw plenty of playing time. Upper left: Will Ramberg (40) works hard to evade a block. Above: Dyami Blackwell (44) beat his man to the bucket to score two of his four points in the game. Left: Trusen Gordon, below, shows off his considerable ball handler skills.
With senior guard Rory Bakke out of the line-up with an injured knee, the Vikings seemed disorganized and started out somewhat lethargic in their Friday, January 15 home game against the Silver Bay Mariners.
Two weeks ago the Vikings lost by three points to the Mariners on the Mariners’ home court, so Viking fans were hoping for a win. Sadly, it wasn’t to be as the Vikings fell 59-25 in a lackluster effort.
The Mariners took a quick 18-9 lead and pushed it to 28 -10 as the Vikings had a hard time scoring points.
Trailing 29-13 going into the break, Head Coach Mitch Dorr used his younger players more in the second half and the team played with more energy. Still, Silver Bay’s star guard Michael Fischer got hot in the second half and no one could stay with him. The Mariners were up 43-20 when they went on a 14-0 run to seal the 59-25 victory.
Marcus Logan led the team in scoring with 8 points. Sam O’Phelan 5, Trusen Gordon 3, Will Ramberg 3, and Leif Anderson, Lucas Phillips, and Jerod Spry each had 2 points to round out the Vikings’ scoring.
Coach Dorr wasn’t pleased with his team’s effort. “Our past two games were pretty disappointing. We are just not playing with the intensity and work ethic that it takes to compete at the varsity level. Versus Silver Bay we were out-rebounded 36-16. That is an example of lack of discipline and lack of effort.”
Vikings show some life against Ely
The next day at home the Vikings faced a very talented Ely Timberwolves team and played much better than they had the night before. However, the results were much the same as the team lost 70-39.
Looking listless at the start, the Vikings had to wake up quick because the Timberwolves, who came out with a full-court press, were up 6-0 with less than 30 seconds off the game clock.
Scrambling hard, the Vikings scored three quick baskets of their own: Marcus Logan netted the Vikings’ first two points on a drive to the basket; Dyami Blackwell made a 15-foot jump shot and Jerod Spry drove through traffic to add two more points to bring the score to 9-6. That was as close as the Vikings could get, mainly succumbing to turnovers.
The Vikings were down 36-22 at the half, and if some of their shots that rimmed out could have fallen, it would have been much closer.
Despite the final score, the Vikings never quit. Senior guard Jerod Spry, listed generously at 5’ 7” played his best game to date, driving the lane and finishing with 9 points while battling hard to come up with 12 rebounds.
Freshman Truesen Gordon handled the ball well and scored 9 points on three 3-point shots. Freshman Dyami Blackwell, one of the team’s best shooters, only had 4 points, but played hard. Junior Sam O’Phelan finished with 4 points, junior Marcus Logan had 4 points and several blocked shots, freshman Will Ramberg finished with 6 points, freshman Leif Anderson 2, and senior forward Lucas Phillips had 1 point.
“In our game versus Ely we played better,” said Coach Dorr, “but their pressure defense killed us. Our guys were not running the press breaks and systems we installed in practice and that is very frustrating. We turned the ball over 36 times which led to Ely shooting 23 more times than we did in the game. Our team needs to learn to carry over what we are practicing into game situations. This is just not happening.”
Still, Coach Dorr saw some things he liked. “I do really like how our younger guys are starting to play. Will Ramberg is doing a great job for us and if he continues to improve, may grow into a starter. He is doing everything we asked of him.
“Jerod Spry played hard in the Ely game and had 12 big rebounds for us.”
Boys drop game to Two Harbors
On Tuesday, January 19 the Vikings traveled to Two Harbors to face the Agates. The game was close throughout, but the Vikings fell 61-54.
Three Vikings scored in double figures. Sam O’Phelan led the team with 16 points, Jerod Spry netted 15 and Dyami Blackwell had 10 points. Marcus Logan ended his night with 8 points and Lucas Phillips finished with 5 points.
Derek Peters’ 17 points led Two Harbors.
The Vikings’ next home game is this Friday, January 22 against Carlton at 4:45 p.m., and then they play Mesabi East at home on Tuesday, January 26 at 7:15 p.m.
Leave a Reply