Top: Colin Everson made two late baskets to pull the team to within 2 points, but the team fell just short in their march to move on in the Section 7A play-offs. Right: Kale Boomer’s last game in a Vikings’ uniform was memorable. Against Fond du Lac he scored 16 points, grabbed 11 boards and had 5 assists to go along with his always-tough defense. Above: Peter Warren faked this shot and passed off. Peter didn’t score a lot of points, but he was a demon on defense and a tough rebounder.
Both of Cook County’s best players, Kale Boomer and Colin Everson, had chances to win the Vikings’ Section 7A playoff game against Fond du Lac Ogichida with last second 3-point shots, but both players narrowly missed as time wound off the clock in a wild, fast-paced game that saw two of Fond du Lac’s best players foul out with 3 minutes to play and the Vikings fighting back from a 6-point deficit to almost take the game.
The game was played in Esko on Thursday, March 7, and the Vikings fell 47-45 in a contest that was played at a frantically fast pace with an emphasis on defense.
Not much scoring happened in the first half, and the Vikings trailed 19-18 at the break.
Jonny Jacobsen, the Vikings’ junior center, was able to get free underneath and hit a few baskets early, and Boomer made two baskets, but neither team was able to get much going offensively.
The Vikings put a stranglehold on Fond du Lac’s lone senior, Trevante Brown, who averages more than 30 points per game. Trevante hit two big 3-point shots in the second half but was largely held in check. He scored 41 points a couple of nights later in a loss to Lakeview Christian that saw his team get knocked out of the playoffs 101-83.
But if the Vikings kept Brown in check, Fond du Lac also kept the Vikings’ leading scorer, Colin Everson, silent most of the night. Throughout the game Everson ran into a wall of defenders. For the game Everson scored a season low number of points. Still, Everson played well, especially coming back from a bad case of the flu the week before.
Jacobsen led Viking scorers with 17 points, followed by 16 points from Boomer.
After the game, Head Coach Mitch Dorr summed up the outcome this way: “We had many chances to score, but some shots just weren’t falling for us. In the playoffs, you have to get those shots to fall if you want to move on.
“I thought our defensive performance was fantastic. We controlled the pace of play, but in the end they made one more play than we did.
“Kale had a typical Boomer performance with 16 points, 11 rebounds, and five assists as well as handling the bulk of ball handling against Fond du Lac’s full court press. His performance was quite spectacular.”
With 20 seconds left the Vikings had a chance to tie or take the lead. Everson fired a 3-point attempt that missed but the Vikings got the ball back when a Fond du Lac player knocked it out of bounds. With 4 seconds to go Boomer took a long inbounds pass and just missed another 3-point shot as time wound down.
When asked if the Vikings thought about taking a 2-point shot for the tie, Dorr said, “Our final play gave us the option between two inside shots if available or an outside shot. The defense collapsed and we had two shots at the end, but we didn’t find the target in the final seconds.
“I thought our seniors (Peter Warren, Justin Goldstein, Boomer and Everson) went out with a lot of class. They worked and competed on both ends of the floor. I am very proud of everything they have given to the program. They will not be forgotten…Once a Viking…. Always a Viking.”
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