Above: No foul was called on this play, but it didn’t matter because Colin Everson took the ball up and scored two points against Mountain Iron-Buhl. Colin has been averaging about 22 points per game this season. Right: Using his speed and quickness, senior guard Kale Boomer sliced through the lane for a lay-up against Mountain Iron-Buhl. Kale led the Vikings with 19 points. The game was a nail-biter throughout, although the Vikings prevailed, winning by two points, 55-53.
It was a week of ups and downs for the Vikings as they faced three tough teams—Esko, and Mountain Iron-Buhl at home and Barnum on the road. Boomer and Everson lead scoring against Esko
With 10 minutes gone in the game the Vikings led the vaunted Esko Eskimos 21-20, but the writing was on the wall—or in this case on the floor—in the names of Marc Peterson and Kory Deadrick of Esko.
At the Thursday, December 13 game, Peterson put on a clinic from the 3-point line; hitting 7-8 to score 23 points while Deadrick hit four 3-pointers to go along with a variety of baskets scored inside to account for 22 points. Those plays, plus those of a half dozen talented teammates, were too much for the Vikings to handle. The final score was 79-45.
Still, Kale Boomer and Colin Everson were every bit as good as the two Esko stars, scoring 23 and 20 points, but the Vikings lack starters with previous (or any) varsity playing experience, and just didn’t have the ability to compete against Esko.
Freshman guard Rory Bakke was the only other Viking to score, and he only hit one 2-point basket. Justin Goldstein played, but with a sore ankle, and Peter Warren, the Vikings’ 5’8” center, fought hard all night, but all of the Esko starters are taller and heavier then Warren, so he had a tough night underneath the hoop. Vikings rebound to win thriller against Mountain Iron-Buhl
Nip and tuck. Punch and counter punch. Point, counterpoint. What a chess match between two evenly matched teams! Fans watched Monday night, December 17 at home as the Vikings squared off against the young, but very talented Mountain Iron-Buhl (MIB) Ranger team, taking the win 55-53.
Starting an 8th and 9th grader at the guard spots and two sophomores and one senior, MIB will be the youngest team the Vikings will play this year. But they are also one of the most talented small school teams they will face.
The Vikings aren’t much older with starting freshman Bakke and sometimes sophomore Richie Furlong to go along with sophomore Lars Scannell and a host of other 9th and 10th grade subs off of the bench. But led by seniors Kale Boomer, Colin Everson, Peter Warren and Justin Goldstein, the Vikings had just enough to pull away late in the contest and then hold on to win a game that ended twice.
Throughout the contest MIB gave the Vikings some trouble with their half-court trap, and the Vikings worked hard all night to hold the Rangers to one shot as they employed a man-to-man defense.
The two teams could never separate, each going up by one or two points before falling behind by one or two points. Colin Everson was off his shot early, as was Justin Goldstein, but each hit big baskets down the stretch to give the Vikings a 6-point lead with 1:30 to go. But MIB came right back on two quick baskets, one a 3-pointer. With 16 seconds left MIB was forced to foul Goldstein who hit the first one-on-one free throw before missing his second shot.
As time wound down the Vikings played aggressive, tight defense and held MIB to one feeble shot as the ball went out of bounds with the time running down to zero.
Game over.
As players and fans left the gym MIB’s Head Coach Luke Winans demanded that some time be put back on the clock and the game resumed because the officials had made a call against one of his players when the clock hit zero. Despite the confusion the game was resumed with 4/10ths of a second put back on the score clock and the Vikings in bounded the ball and the game ended. Again.
Colin Everson led Viking scorers with 24 points and Kale Boomer hit four 3-point shots and scored 19 points for the game. Justin Goldstein also came up big, hitting three 3-point shots and ended the game with 10 points. Lars Scannell came off of the bench and played exceptionally well on defense and also scored 3 points for the Vikings who needed every point to win this game. Barnum upends tired Vikings
Coming off their best game of the year against Mountain Iron- Buhl, it’s fair to say the Vikings needed more than a night’s rest before traveling to Barnum to face the Bombers in their gym. But the people who make the schedules don’t play, so off to Barnum the kids went and like a car low on fuel, quickly ran out of gas once the game started. Play ended with a disappointing loss, 53-35
After taking a 3-0 lead, the Vikings succumbed to a 17-0 run by Barnum and Viking Head Coach Mitch Dorr pulled all of his starters and put in five very young reserves. During the minute and a half the second stringers were in they played Barnum even up, as each team scored 2 points.
Dorr put the first unit back in, but they couldn’t find their shooting touch and trailed 26-12 at halftime. Although the Vikes played better in the second half, Barnum still outscored the Vikings 27-23, and they lost 53-35.
Kale Boomer led the Vikings with 16 points and Colin Everson was held under 20 points for the first time this season, tallying 13 points. Justin Goldstein, Lars Scannell and Leo Johnson each scored two points to end the scoring for the Vikings.
Everson hit three 3-point shots and Boomer hit two 3-pointers.
The Vikings are now in fourth place out of 10 teams with a 2-2 record in the Polar League and sport a 5-2 record overall. They trail Esko, Moose Lake-Willow River and Barnum who are all 3-0 in conference play. Of those teams, only Barnum and Cook County play in the small school (Class 1A) division while the other two schools are 3A because of their large student bodies.
Help should be arriving when the Vikings’ 6’3” big-bodied center, Jonny Jacobsen, returns after the New Year. Jacobsen’s presence on the court should give the team a much-needed boost Jacobsen has been recovering from knee surgery for an injury he incurred during the football season.
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