Richie Furlong went hard to basket and scored two of the ten points he ended his night with in the 55-39 victory over the Silver Bay Mariners.
With time running out and the score tied, Jonny Jacobsen took a long pass from Owen Anderson and hit a 6-footer to win the away game 54-52 against Northeast Range played Thursday, January 23.
Head Coach Pat Eliasen was happy with the win, but said, “Against Northeast Range our defense wasn’t as good as it should have been in the first half. We were down 7 points going into halftime, but we opened up our offense a little more in the second half and began pressing them.”
Once again Brandon Curtis had a big game for the Vikings, leading the team in scoring with 16 points and 13 rebounds.
Guards Richie Furlong and Lars Scannell each scored 10 points, with Furlong grabbing 5 rebounds and Scannell 4 boards. Jacobsen ended his night with 7 points and 10 boards and Jamie Wick had 7 points and 2 rebounds.
“It was great to see the guys make a comeback and then seal the deal by pushing that extra little bit to get the win,” Coach Eliasen said, adding, “I was very proud of the effort and the focus we had.”
Vikings beat Silver Bay
The Vikings didn’t get long to celebrate their exciting win over Northeast Range because they had to play Silver Bay at home the next night.
The Mariners jumped on the Vikings early, taking an 8-point lead before Jamie Wick hit back-to-back 3-point shots and helped turn the tide back in the Vikings’ favor.
“After the nail biter the night before, we were pretty tired so I delayed putting the press on until late in the game. That was the point we began to pull away from them. It was another great effort to win by all of the guys,” Coach Eliasen said.
On a sad note, Owen Anderson broke his collarbone diving for a loose ball midway through the first half.
“Owen is an amazingly hard worker on the court and his style of play is wide open. He will probably miss the rest of the season and that hurts us. On a positive note, Rory Bakke has been cleared by his doctor to resume playing and that is a plus for us,” Eliasen said.
Brandon Curtis scored 18 points and pulled down 8 rebounds while Jamie Wick ended with 17 points and had 6 rebounds. Jonny Jacobsen finished with 7 points and 9 boards, Lars Scannell had 6 points and 1 rebound, Richie Furlong had 4 points and 6 boards, Owen Anderson had 2 points and Seth Warren had 1 point.
“All of the guys have been well and more importantly, beginning to play as a team. Lars is more under control, Richie is stepping into a ball-handling role, Jamie is beginning to emerge as a shooter and our two big guys (Curtis and Jacobsen) control the boards on both ends. Brandon has also been scoring the majority of our points,” said Eliasen.
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