Andy Farley went up high on this jump shot to score two of his 15 points against the Silver Bay Mariners. The Vikings lost a hard fought contest 62-57.
Everyone who follows Viking boys’ basketball knew this game was going to be close. Less than a month ago the Vikings nipped Silver Bay at Silver Bay in overtime. This time, despite getting off to a hot start and leading 23-13, the Vikings fell to the Mariners 62-57 in a hard fought game played January 6 at home.
No one played harder than Vikings’ co-captain Jamie Wick. Wick scored 25 points and pulled down 21 rebounds.
On offense Silver Bay was led by ninth-grade guard Jason Blood and 11th grade guard Michael Fischer. Both are good shooters, Blood from long range while Fischer scores off his dribble on mid-range jump shots. The Vikings had a hard time stopping either one of them.
Still the game was always within reach, but turnovers were the bane of the Vikings.
Silver Bay played a trapping full-court press and it forced Viking ball handlers into a myriad of turnovers.
After taking a 10-point lead the Vikings fell behind when Silver Bay went on a 21-7 run, going up 34-30. The Vikings stayed close, getting to within a point at 42-41 and to within 2 points of Silver Bay when the score was 50-48, but try as they might the Vikings could never regain the lead.
With one minute left the Vikings had their chances. Lucas Philips hit a nice 3-point shot from the deep right corner to pull the Vikings within 3 points, but Fischer scored a two-point basket on Silver Bay’s next possession and during the frantic last 45 seconds of play, Wick and Andy Farley got off a couple of long shots but nothing went in, and the Vikings lost by 5 points.
Jamie Wick’s 25 points led all scorers. Andy Farley has a strong second half of play and ended his night with 15 points while Rory Bakke—who started off with a hot hand—cooled down and scored 7 points. Sam O’Phelan ended his night with 8 points while Lucas Phillips chipped in 4 points.
After the game, Head Coach Pat Eliasen said, “Turnovers killed us. We had 18 in the first half, and 33 for the game. I called timeout three times in the first half to settle the boys down. There were always open people to throw the ball to but we weren’t finding them. This is something that we will continue to work on in practice. We know teams will be coming at us all season long now with a press, so we are going to have to figure out how to break it.
“This is a learning year, a building year. The kids are getting better and working hard, but there is plenty of room for improvement,” Eliasen said.
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