Vikings falter in second half against Bulldogs

By FAITH MOLDAN

Bigfork Eagle

It was a tale of two halves for the Bigfork Viking varsity basketball team in Whitefish Friday night.

The Vikes, who trailed by just three points at halftime, lost to the Bulldogs 65-36 in Northwest A conference action.

Bigfork started the game with the lead. The Vikes led 6-3 with 4:38 on the clock and continued to lead throughout the rest of the quarter until the last minute. Whitefish tied the game at 12 apiece with 54 seconds on the clock and took the lead with 15 seconds remaining.

The Vikes, led by Brock Boll's 11 points, trailed the Bulldogs by as many are seven points in the second quarter before making the score 24-21 with less than a minute to play. Bigfork kept Whitefish's lead to single digits through nearly the first three minutes of play in the third quarter. After that, Whitefish stretched its lead to double digits and never looked back. What started as a 10-point Bulldog lead with 5:18 on clock, turned into a 49-26 lead at the end of the third. Bigfork had been within 10 points of the Bulldogs again with 4:07 remaining.

Boll scored four in the fourth quarter, as did Ben Sandry. Sandry made all four of his free throws in the final 37 seconds. Bigfork's scoring in the fourth quarter was sporadic at best while Whitefish scored at will. Whitefish began the fourth quarter doubled-up on the Vikes with a 29-point lead.

Levi Dockstader and Garrett Pewe added five points apiece for the Vikes, while Roland Benedict had seven. Jake Milner and Scott Taylor both scored two points.

The Vikes, 5-12 overall and 0-9 in the Northwest A conference, have one last chance to record a regular-season conference win Saturday, Feb. 16, at home against the Ronan Chiefs. The freshman boys start the action at 3 p.m., followed by the junior varsity and varsity.

Bigfork 12 9 5 10 — 36

Whitefish 14 10 25 16 — 65

BIGFORK (5-12, 0-9) — Roland Benedict 3 0-0 7, Levi Dockstader 1 2-2 5, Jake Milner 0 2-2 2, Brock Boll 4 3-7 11, Garrett Pewe 2 1-3 5, Scott Taylor 1 0-0 2, Ben Sandry 0 4-4 4, Donny Tudahl 0 0-1 0. Totals 11 12-19 36.

WHITEFISH (8-7, 4-4) — Matt Whitehead 2 0-2 4, Aaron Tkachyk 5 0-0 12, Shawn Watterud 5 2-2 12, Mark Hotzfield 1 0-0 2, Austin Green 0 2-2 2, Colt Idol 7 6-9 22, Jake Smith 1 1-3 3, David FauntLeRoy 4 0-0 8. Totals 25 11-16 65.

3-point goals — BF 2 (Benedict, Dockstader), WF 4 (Tkachyk 2, Idol 2). Team fouls — BF 17, WF 17. Fouled out — none.