The Vikings defense was solid against the disciplined Ely Timberwolves at the home game on Saturday, February 6. Defenders, left to right: James Groth, Colin Everson, Ryan Martinson.
The Cook County boys’ basketball team split in its back-to-back contests this past weekend to bring their overall season record to 7-7. On Friday, February 5, the Vikings beat the Two Harbors Agates 56-48 at home. On the following day, Cook County’s shooting woes cost them a victory, as Ely upended the Vikings, 34-41.
Cook County played host to the 2-12 Two Harbors Agates on Friday night. Two Harbors is a scrappy team that, for the most part, plays against schools much larger than Cook County. In the first half, the Agates gave the Vikings quite the battle.
With the score tied at 8-8, senior James Groth hit two consecutive three-pointers to give the Vikings a six-point lead, 14-8. TheAgates battled back, however, outscoring the Vikings 16-8 in the next seven minutes of play to take a 22-24 lead with just three minutes remaining in the first half.
TheVikings’ leading scorer and rebounder, Mike Austin, was suited up, but would not play for the second straight game due to a shoulder injury. Without the big center in the middle, Cook County was struggling with its defense. Freshman Kale Boomer stepped up in the final minutes of the first half and scored five points to give the Vikings a one-point lead at the break, 28-27.
Two Harbors took back the lead four minutes into the second half before Cook County came to life on both sides of the ball. The Vikings made four consecutive shots, two of which were Colin Everson three-pointers, to take a 43-34 lead. Cook County would keep the defensive pressure on, extending its lead to 53-36 with just under seven minutes to play. For the first 11 minutes of the second half, the Vikings only allowed the Agates to score nine points.
The Agates cut the lead to eight, but the Vikings turned away the late rally to win 56-48. Groth led all scorers with 16 points. David Bergstrom had a wonderful all-around game as he grabbed 12 rebounds and collected four steals to go along with his 14 points. Brock Hommerding added nine points to the tally for Cook County.
An early afternoon game the next day at 1:00 p.m. against the 7-8 Ely Timberwolves proved to be a difficult task. The Vikings got themselves in an early hole that they couldn’t recover from.
In the first half of play, the Vikings played great team defense, as they only allowed Ely to score 22 points in the first 18 minutes of play. Cook County couldn’t hit a shot, however, as it made less than 30 percent of its shots in the first half, scoring only 14 points against the Timberwolves’ 2-3 zone defense.
The Vikings’ defense continued to be fairly solid against the disciplined Timberwolves, but on offense, Cook County had trouble getting the ball inside. In addition, the Vikings couldn’t make a shot from the outside. Cook County cut the lead to five late in the game, but the Viking rally would run out of time as they fell short, 34-41.
Cook County was led by Ryan Martinson’s 10 points. No other Viking scored more than eight points in the contest. Senior center Mike Austin played 20 minutes in the game, but had to leave when he re-aggravated his shoulder injury.
The Vikings traveled to Albrook this past Tuesday after this edition went to press. This Friday, the Vikings make the long trek to McGregor. Look in next week’s edition for all the scores and highlights.
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