Above: Freshman Jordan Porter’s minutes have gone up this season as he comes off the bench more and more for the varsity. A good ball handler and possessing a nice touch on his shot, Porter is someone who will get better with more experience.
The Vikings played back-to-back games on Friday and Saturday, losing both in a frustrating weekend for a young boys’ team.
First, Floodwood came to town on Friday the 13th with a team that in many ways is similar to the Viking squad. Both teams are young, neither has much height, and they looked to be even in the quickness department, so it looked to be a good matchup, which it was.
The Vikings led once in the contest, 7-6, before falling behind, although they only trailed by three points at halftime, 19-16 in a low-scoring affair.
Coming off halftime, Dyami Blackwell hit a two-point shot to bring the Vikings to within one point. The teams traded baskets with the Polar Bears maintaining a narrow lead throughout the first 10 minutes of the second half. However, the Vikings fell back by nine points, trailing 37-28, and couldn’t make up any ground on the Polar Bears, losing 44-35.
Once again senior Sam O’Phelan led the team in scoring with 16 points. No other Vikings scored more than 5 points.
Left: Mikey Burton lofts a three point shot, hitting nothing but net. Middle: In traffic, Sam O’Phelan puts up a two point shot. Right: Dyami Blackwell fades back and lofts a one-hander over the defender’s outstretched arms.
“The Floodwood game was very disappointing,” said Head Coach Mitch Dorr. “I thought we matched up well against them, but of all things, we did not defend well at all. We have some guys really struggling to defend in our man-to-man defense, which is the core of what we do. We will need to improve immensely.
“I thought Sam played another great game and he continues to lead by example. He played great on both sides of the ball.”
Boys lose to Ely
After a close loss to Floodwood, the team traveled to Ely the next day to play the Ely Timberwolves in a game that was never close.
Before the match head coach Mitch Dorr received a text message saying he had strep throat, so he let his assistant Evan Morris take over coaching duties while he returned home. Sam O’Phelan played a strong all-around game, leading the Vikings with 12 points, but Coach Dorr said the rest of the team struggled.
“We will go back to the drawing board offensively, and see if we can’t create some more structure for our young guys who are struggling to create their own offense,” said Dorr.
The Vikings trailed 40-14 at halftime and fell 67-35.
Bedsides O’Phelan’s 12 points, Trusen Gordon scored 6, Will Ramberg 5, Adam Dorr 3, Jordon Porter 2, and Leif Anderson scored 2 points.
Evan Omerza scored 18 points to lead the Timberwolves.
The boys’ next home game will be against Cromwell on Friday, Jan. 27. The game will start at 4:45 p.m.
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