Lucas Phillips sends up a shot from long range. Phillips, a rangy 6’3” forward, scored 9 points against Esko to lead the team in scoring.
The Cook County boys’ basketball team traveled to Esko on Friday, February 5 to square off against a very talented Esko team.
“I thought we played a very good first half against Esko,” said Head Coach Mitch Dorr. “Esko has a fantastic team and we played pretty good in the first half. In the second half their talent took over and they pulled away to beat us.”
The Vikings trailed 36-17 at the half but were outscored 35-10 over the next half to fall 71-27.
“We were out-rebounded 30-10 which really hurt us,” Coach Dorr said. “We also turned the ball over 7 more times which led to Esko shooting the ball 18 more times than we did.
“I really thought we got good effort in our game versus Esko. We just don’t have the scorers right now to compete with such a strong team.”
Senior forward Lucas Phillips led the Vikings in scoring with 9 points. Lucas made three 3-point shots. Sam O’Phelan (8) and Jerod Spry (8) and Rory Bakke (2) finished the scoring for the Vikings who lost 71-27.
Sophomore Adam Trapp, at 7’2”, towered over Viking players and scored 23 points to lead Esko in scoring. Esko’s star guard Michael Fischer was out for the game due to an injury.
Viking fans will have three opportunities to see the boys play at home in the next week.
The Vikings play Moose Lake/ Willow River at home on Friday, February 12 at 4:45 p.m. Thunder Bay comes to town the next day to play a game that starts at 3 p.m.
On Tuesday, February 16, Cromwell travels to Grand Marais to square off at either 4:45 or 6:30 p.m. (both girls and boys varsity games are scheduled for that evening) against the Vikings for the second time this year. On December 21 the Vikings made the trip to Cromwell and won a nail-biter 40-38. It should be a good game.
Come out and cheer on your Vikings!
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