Above: Rory Bakke was fouled on this play but still made the two-point bucket against Lakeview Christian. Right: Jerod Spry has emerged as the team’s go to player this year, finding ways to score, finding the open man, playing tough defense and fighting for rebounds.
The Vikings made the long bus trip to Wrenshall on Friday, January 29 to face the Wrens and played one of their best games to date.
Once again the Vikings found themselves in a familiar situation. With five minutes off the clock in the second half the score was tied. Three times the Vikings have let games get away from them in similar situations, but not on this night. Not with the way senior guard Jerod Spry was playing.
“Jerod had a great game,” said Head Coach Mitch Dorr. “He scored 28 points and grabbed 6 rebounds. He was 12 of 16 from the free throw line and hit four three pointers.”
All season long the Vikings have been tinkering with their starting line-up trying to find the combination that gives the team the best chance to win. On this night the Viking starters were Rory Bakke, Sam O’Phelan, Jerod Spry, and 9th graders Leif Anderson and Dyami Blackwell.
“We were up 30-29 at the half and with 13 minutes left we were tied,” said Dorr. “We then went into our 3-2 match-up zone and held them to four points in the final 12 minutes of play. We outscored Wrenshall 29-13 in the second half to win 59-42.”
The Viking record is now 3-10.
“We played tremendous in our 3-2 zone and our guys did a good job of attacking the basket and not settling for quick shots,” said Dorr.
Boys lose to Lakeview Christian Academy
The Vikings played the Lakeview Christian Academy Lions on Tuesday, Feb. 2 at home. It was the first time in half a dozen years the Vikings didn’t have to face either Anders or Bjorn Broman. Bjorn scored more than 4,000 points in high school and Anders leads all Minnesota high school players with 5,119 career points. Both young men play for Division 1 Winthrop College where Bjorn starts as a freshman.
Without the Bromans, LCA, which doesn’t have its own gym, came into the contest with a similar record to the Vikings with 4 wins. On paper this game looked to be close.
Early on it was a close game as the teams traded baskets. The Vikings’ first 11 points were scored by Spry (2) Lucas Phillips (3) O’Phelan (2) Blackwell (2) and Bakke (2), which is how a coaching staff would draw it up on offense. However, the Lions repeatedly beat the Vikings on the glass, especially on offense where they got repeated looks and easy baskets after misses. The Vikings trailed the Lions 23-29 at the half, but had every reason to believe they could come back and win the game.
“Our weakness as a team is definitely rebounding,” said Coach Dorr. “We have worked and worked on it but we are not boxing out well. We need to play more physical and with more aggression. Things won’t change for us until we do.”
Coming out of the locker room, the Vikings were outscored 21-9 in the first 6-7 minutes to fall behind 50-34. The Lion’s man-to-man defense caused the Vikings to turn the ball over and kept the Vikings out of any offensive rhythm. Both teams substituted late and Mike Burton hit a long three as the clock nearly wound down.
However, one of LVC’s young players heaved a half court shot as the buzzer sounded that found nothing but net and the Vikings fell 67-46.
Coach Dorr said his team was 8 of 17 from the free throw line, “which brings our season average to 107 for 236 which is 45.3 percent. At any level of play, that is extremely low. We are going to need guys to shoot all summer long if we want to improve next season.”
As far as his team losing a game they could have won, Coach Dorr said, “This is my concern for this program right now. Why are other teams playing harder than we do? Why are they more aggressive? Our guys are pretty docile in demeanor. We need to find a heartbeat.”
Spry led the team with 12 points. He was followed by O’Phelan 10, Bakke 6, Phillips 5, Blackwell 5, Marcus Logan 4, Burton 3, and Anderson’s 2 points rounded out the Vikings scoring.
The Vikings played Esko on Friday, Feb. 5 in Esko, facing the tallest high school player in the nation, sophomore Adam Trapp who is 7’2” and still growing. They come home to play Thunder Bay the next day, Feb. 6 at 3 p.m. and then have home games against Moose Lake/Willow River on Feb. 12 at 4:45 p.m. and Cromwell on Feb. 16 at 6:30 p.m.
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