Ryan Martinson (3) steps out to stop the Mesabi East center while Dylan Quaife (10) and David Bergstrom stay close to their men in the game played last Tuesday night at home. Despite playing great defense, the Vikes couldn’t hit enough of their shots and fell just short of victory in a nip and tuck contest against the Giants.
The Cook County High School boys’ basketball team rebounded from a tough loss to Ely by beating Babbitt-Embarrass 69-36 on Thursday, January 27 in front of appreciative Viking fans.
Dylan Quaife and Colin Everson led the Vikings in scoring with 19 each. Ryan Martinson followed with 17 while Justin Goldstein chipped in 7. Jordan Lack, Will Petty, and David Bergstrom each had 2 points and Kale Boomer finished with 1 point.
Up 39-17 at halftime, the Vikings kept the defensive pressure on, breaking down the Knights with their tough man-to-man play.
The boys are now 8-5 on the year and 4-3 in conference play.
Friday’s (January 28) game was cancelled due to bad weather.
Through 12 games David Bergstrom is leading the Vikings in scoring with a 13.4 average. He also leads the Vikes in rebounds, with 8.2 boards per game and has the most 3-pointers with 20, hitting for 41.7 percent from downtown. Bergstrom also has the best field goal shooting percentage with 46.5 percent of his baskets falling, but, strangely enough, David is hitting only 41.2 percent of his free throws.
Dylan Quaife goes up high over two Mesabi East defenders and scores two points for the Vikings. Quaife, like the rest of his teammates, played solid basketball throughout the night, but the team couldn’t quite overtake its rivals.
Ryan Martinson is averaging 12.1 points and 7.1 boards.
Vikings fall to Silver Bay
In a reversal of fortunes the boy’s basketball team traveled to Silver Bay on January 31 to face a team they had soundly beaten 59-40 only two weeks earlier. But the Mariners had little trouble with the Vikings this night, taking the victory 48-30.
Nothing would fall for the Vikings. They went into halftime trailing the Mariners 19-9 and although they scored 21 secondhalf points, the Mariners scored even more, with 29.
Silver Bay’s Luke Thun led all scorers with 21 points. Ryan Martinson and David Bergstrom each had 8 points to lead the Vikings. Colin Everson added 5 and Dylan Quaife, Kale Boomer and Will Petty all added 3 points.
“We really struggled shooting in Silver Bay and that crept into our game against Mesabi East,” said Head Coach Mitch Dorr.
Heart breaker against Mesabi East
Years back, Billy Ray Cyrus wrote a song that could be apropos for this year’s Viking squad. The song? Achy-Breaky Heart.
The last couple of weeks the Vikings have taken an unbeaten Lakeview Christian Academy and an unbeaten Ely squad right down to the wire, and now, on Tuesday night, February 1, the Vikings took a good Mesabi East team to the final two minutes of the game before it all slipped away.
Senior guard Ryan Martinson started off with hot shooting from the floor, scoring 14 of the Vikings’ first 17 points. The game was fast paced, with both teams playing tough man-to-man defense and both teams running the fast break any chance they could get.
Just before half time Mesabi East put on a little run to go into break up 27-21.
The Giants extended their lead to 31-23 before Cook County went on a run of its own behind baskets by Martinson, David Bergstrom, Colin Everson and Kale Boomer. But just as the Vikings would close the gap, often getting within two points of their rivals, and once getting it to one point, they could never tie the score or take the lead.
With less than five minutes to play and down 45-42, Cook County players missed several lay-ups and committed two charges on scoring opportunities that killed any hopes of catching the Giants. Mesabi East players got several close looks and scored the next 8 points to effectively end the game. The Vikings walked off the court beaten 61-49, but the game was tantalizingly close and the kids played hard, leaving pieces of their hearts on the court. No word yet on whether Cyrus, who is in the midst of a comeback, will do a country song that will soothe the hearts of basketball players.
Dan Sehimi led the Giants with 16 points.
Ryan Martinson led all scorers with 20 points. David Bergstrom and Colin Everson each scored 8 points, while Dylan Quaife netted 7, Boomer 4, and Will Petty 2.
“The last two games have been disappointing. We just haven’t played well,” said Coach Dorr, adding, “We really had been improving but these past two games have been a step backward. We need to regroup as a team and get back to playing solid basketball.”
The Vikings faced Two Harbors on Friday, February 4.
The Vikings’ record is now 7-6 and 4-4 in the conference.
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