Young Vikes continue winning ways

Bigfork High School’s boys junior varsity and freshman basketball teams continued their winning streaks as both teams took out Whitefish and Ronan last week, and the JV also played Libby and got the win. The JV boys are now 15-2 and the freshman are 13-2.

Friday night’s game in Bigfork against Ronan was the toughest game of the week for the JV boys. Both teams scored 18 in the first quarter, but Bigfork outscored the Chiefs 22-16 in the second to take a six point lead at the half. In the third Bigfork scored just eight points, but was able to hold Ronan to seven. In the final period it was the Vikes’ solid free throw shooting that allowed them to hang on to the win, as they made 12 of their 16 foul shots and put in just one field goal to outscore Ronan 14-13 and come away with a 62-54 victory.

“We started out poorly, but got the job done,” said Bigfork’s junior varsity boys basketball coach Jason Hall. “We figured out their defense more in the second half and did a good job of being patient. We shot the ball well in the second half as well. Our defense won the game for us.”

Christian Ker had a game high 18 points, 14 of which he racked up in the first half, including a pair of 3-pointers. Travis Knoll contributed 17 and Jordan McAnally put up two field goals and a 3-pointer to add seven points for Bigfork.

When Bigfork traveled to Whitefish Thursday night, the JV took a commanding lead in the first quarter putting up 18 points, which included two 3-pointers from McAnally and one from Carter Sorenson to the Bulldogs’ eight. By half-time the Vikes led 30-23, and then they held Whitefish to just four points in the third quarter while they scored 10, eight of which Knoll put in. Whitefish narrowly outscored Bigfork in the fourth, 14-12, but the Vikes still won 52-41.

“The Whitefish game was a hard fought game from start to finish,” Hall said. “They played better defense than they did the first time, but we hung in there and got some key stops ourselves.”

Knoll had a game high 17 points, and was three-for-four from the free-throw line. McAnally and  Ker contributed 12 and nine, respectively.

Against Libby Tuesday night the JV Vikings ended their first half of play with a 29-19 lead over the Loggers. They kept that lead growing over the second half as they outscored Libby 16-7 in the third quarter and 16-8 in the fourth.

“We played good defense,” Hall said. “We kept changing our style of defense around and it kept them guessing.”

Sophomore guard Carter Sorenson had a big game, scoring a game high 20 points, which included a 3-pointer in the first quarter and three more nearly consecutively in the fourth quarter. Ker contributed eight points with two 3-pointers and a field goal all in the first quarter. Ian Lorang, Ronnie Gallegos and Knoll each added seven points.

Bigfork’s freshman boys had a 10-point lead at the end of the first quarter when they hosted Ronan.

“This was one of the teams we lost to so the kids were really pumped up to play,” said Bigfork’s freshman boys basketball coach Michael Edwards. “We came out really strong. We let up a little bit in the second quarter. We were satisfied with being up in the first and let them right back in the game.”

The second half was a back and forth battle, but Bigfork ultimately beat the Chiefs 59-47.

“Our defense won it for us,” Edwards said “We didn’t shoot real well all night.”

Lorang put in two 3-pointers, was three-for-five from the line and came away with a game high 19 points. Cody Dopps contributed 12 and Gallegos added eight. Connor Coleman put up seven, all in the third quarter, and Alex Ruiez put in a 3-pointer and two field goals to score seven as well.

In Whitefish the freshmen had a 10-point lead again at the end of the first quarter.

“We came out in our full-court man-to-man press and caused a lot of turnovers and got a lot of easy layups early,” Edwards said. “In the second quarter we got lazy and fouled a lot and let them back in the game.”

After being outscored 12-9 in the second, the Vikes answered in a big way in the third quarter as they scored 28 points and held the Bulldogs to just seven.

“At halftime I drew some new defenses on the board and we came out and ‘D’d’ them up like crazy,” Edwards said of his team’s third quarter success. “We had the best quarter we’ve had all year. It was a very unselfish quarter and very successful all because of our defense.”

Whitefish outscored Bigfork 18-4 in the fourth, but it wasn’t enough to keep the Vikings from leaving with a 58-44 victory.

Coleman led the Vikes with 15 points. Lorang scored 13 points, nine of which he picked up in the third, including a 3-pointer. Dopps contributed 10 points.