Above left: Up, up and away! Pete Sutton (22) went by defenders for a layup. Above middle: Keeping his eyes on the basket, Mike Burton (33) launched a nifty one-handed shot against the South Ridge Panthers. Right: Slick ball handler Trusen Gordon left his defender (24) in the dust on this play. Gordon has emerged as the team’s point guard this season.
The CCHS boys’ basketball team played two games this past week, and the results in both were almost identical.
A young Vikings squad took the floor at home against a veteran South Ridge Panther team on Friday, December 16, and although they played well on defense, the Vikings had a hard time kick-starting their offense and scoring points.
South Ridge led by 15-20 points for much of the game, although the Vikings came within 8 points midway in the second half before falling 52-32.
Dyami Blackwell led the team with 14 points and 7 rebounds. Will Ramberg finished with 9 points and pulled down 7 rebounds.
The Vikings are a young team. They only have two players that are six feet tall and lack brawn in the middle. Head coach Mitch Dorr typically starts three sophomores, one junior and one senior, and a ninth grader is often one of the first players off of the bench.
“We are really struggling offensively,” said Coach Dorr. “You can tell this group hasn’t played much together and we are struggling to find any flow on offense. Too many turnovers combined with poor shooting have us struggling. In addition, we have had a lot of guys miss a lot of practices for various reasons. We are not going to mesh together until this group decides to get to practice on a regular basis.”
Vikings lose to Cromwell
On Monday, December 19 the Vikings traveled to Cromwell to face the Cromwell-Wright Cardinals and lost 51-31.
For one of the few times ever, no Viking scored in double digits. Sam O’Phelan led the Vikings with 8 points. Trusen Gordon netted 5, Leif Anderson 5, Pete Sutton 5, Will Ramberg 4, Jordan Porter 2, and Dyami Blackwell had 2 points.
Zion Smith led Cromwell with 15 points.
The Vikings head into Christmas break and resume conference play on January 3 against the Silver Bay Mariners in a game played at Silver Bay. The next home game will be played on Friday, January 13 against Floodwood. Varsity takes the floor at 4:45 p.m. Come out and cheer for your Vikings!
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