Staff photos/Laurie Johnson The Viking boys had an impressive 76-36 home win over the Carlton Bulldogs on Friday, January 8. Above: Senior Mike Austin shoots over a Carlton defender. Left: Senior Brock Hommerding and the rest of the Vikings defense stepped it up on their home court against the Bulldogs. Hommerding led the Vikings, scoring 17 points in the home game against the Carlton Bulldogs.
The Cook County boys’ basketball team split their two games last week with one win and one loss to bring the overall season record to 2-4. After losing to Moose Lake on the road 43-61, the Vikings responded three days later with an impressive 76-60 home win over the Carlton Bulldogs.
Moose Lake started out strong against the Vikings, taking an early 11-4 lead. After a Cook County timeout, the Vikings regrouped behind five straight points from freshman Colin Everson. TheRebels, however, continued to take advantage of their quick transition game as they beat the Vikings back down the floor for some easy fast break baskets.
Cook County’s Ryan Martinson kept the Vikings close, scoring eight straight for Cook County in one stretch of play as the Vikings went into the locker room down by nine points at the half, 25-34. Martinson led the Vikings at the half with 10 points.
In the second half, the Vikings’ defense played fairly well, but the offense sputtered, scoring only 18 second half points. In the game, the Vikings only got to the foul line four times. The Rebels took over in the second half, winning 61-43, as the young Viking bench got quality minutes at the end of the game. Martinson led the Vikings in scoring with 12 points. Brock Hommerding added 11 points and Everson and Mike Austin each added eight points for the Vikings.
On Friday, January 8, the Vikings played host to the Carlton Bulldogs. Cook County stepped up their defensive intensity and worked all week in practice on rebounding better on the defensive end of the court. The extra work showed as the Vikings quickly jumped out to an early 16-5 lead, led by the speed of senior guard Brock Hommerding who continued to push the pace of play for the Vikings.
Early foul trouble for Mike Austin landed the Vikings’ six foot-five inch center on the bench for 16 of the 18 minutes in the first half. Coming off the bench, Everson stepped up, scoring seven points to go along with Hommerding’s 11 as the Vikings took a 43-28 halftime lead.
The second half couldn’t have started worse for the Vikings, as the Bulldogs scored seven straight points to cut the lead to 43-35. Cook County then turned to their inside game, as Austin and Martinson combined for 20 second half points. Austin and Martinson worked well together with Austin posting up and Martinson slashing to the basket.
The Bulldogs wouldn’t recover, as the Vikings went on to win, 76-60. Hommerding led all scorers with 17 points. Martinson added 15 points and Austin finished with 14. James Groth and Everson chipped in 11 points each as the Vikings finished the game with five players scoring in double figures. Everson’s play continues to improve as the freshman played extended minutes for the Vikings and gave them some much-needed scoring power.
The Vikings are now 2-4 on the season and played in Silver Bay Tuesday after this edition went to press. They next play on Friday at Lakeview Christian Academy. Look in next week’s edition for all the scores and highlights.
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