Vikes hang on for wins

The Vikings (9-1) finally met their match last week and teetered on taking their second loss of the season — twice — but managed to pull of wins over Class A teams Ronan, 66-52, and Whitefish, 60-57.

In Friday night's thriller against Whitefish, Bigfork led 15-12 after the first quarter.

"We knew it was going to be tough," said Paul LaMott, Bigfork High School head boys basketball coach. "I think some fans on both sides may have underestimated the competition, but I knew we were in for a big test. Whitefish plays very hard. They get after the loose balls and they have very solid post players."

The Vikes really stepped it up in the second and, powered by four 3-pointers, outscored the Bulldogs 21-16.

It wasn't an easy feat, though. The boys had to rally hard to end the half on top. Lael Richmond put a 3-pointer in to tie the game at 25 apiece with 1:28 left in the half. A six-point run by Evan Jordt and Christian Ker took the Vikes' score to 31-25 with one minute left. Ker sunk his second 3-point shot of the quarter and the Bulldogs snuck in another two points and made their total 27 with 21 seconds left to play in the half. Ker put in an additional shot from the field right before the buzzer to finish the half out 36-28.

Bigfork may have had the home court advantage, but both teams were charged by their overflowing cheering sections. It was instantly apparent that the Bigfork-Whitefish rivalry isn't one that can go away just because Bigfork is no longer competing in Class A.

"It's still a huge rivalry," LaMott said. "I knew it was big, but I really didn't understand it until this week, or particularly tonight."

The Vikes and the Bulldogs hit the floor with strong defense in the third quarter. Whitefish finished the period with 10 points and Bigfork scored nine.

Bigfork led by seven points going into the fourth quarter, but the Bulldogs weren't going down without a fight.

"We've done a good job thus far of playing after a let down," LaMott said. "When we established a lead, I was hopeful we'd extend it, but I knew there was a good chance that Whitefish would make a run at some points."

With two minutes left to play, the Bulldogs had narrowed the gap to just three points and the score stood at 54-51. During the next minute, the Vikes added four more points to their score and held Whitefish to just one. The teams exchanged layups, fouls and high pressure free-throw shots for the remainder of the quarter. Bigfork struggled from the line, but Whitefish struggled from the field, and in the end Bigfork triumphed by the skin of their teeth.

The Vikes made just 10 of their 27 free-throw shots during the game while the Bulldogs made 13 of their 22.

Ker led the Vikes with 16 points, Carter Sorensen contributed 14 points and Richmond added 13. All three boys put in two 3-pointers, but struggled from the free-throw line.

"Christian had a good game overall with a monstrous first half," LaMott said. "Carter shot with confidence and gave us some great minutes. The player I was really thrilled with was Lael. He had 13 points, including two 3-pointers, to go with his 18 rebounds."

Jordt had five assists, two blocks and two steals in addition to his six points.

"Evan did a good job of leading us on the floor, which is where we need him to be," LaMott said. "Although he is struggling from the line, he made some smart plays and I'm always really comfortable with the ball in his hands in high-pressure situations."

But there was one Bulldog they couldn't stop. Connor Silliker had a game high 20 points, outscoring all of his teammates by at least 10 points.

"We didn't have an answer for Connor Silliker all night," LaMott said.

His clutch free-throw shooting in the fourth quarter was the Bulldogs' key to staying in the game too. He was 4-for-6 from the line.

On Thursday night, the Vikes started out well against the Chiefs, but they quickly let down their guard.

"The biggest challenge we faced was that they pressed us," LaMott said. "That would be fine, but we are fully able to play against a full-court press. We were just making poor decision after poor decision."

A 20-point first quarter led by Ker and Richmond, who had eight apiece, gave the Vikes a good foundation over Ronan, who scored just six. In the second quarter, Bigfork put up another 14, but allowed Ronan to score eight. In the third, Bigfork began to fall apart, and in the final two minutes they were outscored by the team they had just been dominating not long before.

"We had a great first quarter, a strong second quarter and for six minutes we had an acceptable third quarter," LaMott said. "After that, we were deplorable."

Ronan put in 15 third-quarter points to the Vikes' 12. Worse yet for Bigfork was that it happened again in the fourth quarter. That time it was Ronan with 23 and Bigfork with 20.

"We had established a big enough lead that we were able to fall back on it," LaMott said. "I'd like to think that we'd be able to eventually turn it around, but in the end I was just glad that Ronan ran out of time before they could come back."

Jordt tied his season high of 17 points, which was also the game-high. Sorensen, who put in two 3-pointers and made both of his free-throw shots, added 10 points. Travis Knoll was 5-for-8 from the line and contributed nine points. Ker and Richmond each scored eight. Ker's were all in the first quarter in the form of two 3-pointers and a field goal. Richmond made three shots from the field in the first quarter and his remaining two points were made in his two free-throw attempts in the second quarter.

The Bigfork boys are still without Ben Sandry who is out due to a school-related disciplinary action. Sophomore Dillon Fraley played up from junior varsity this week to help fill out the roster. He scored six points in the Vikes' victory over Ronan.

The Vikings traveled to Libby on Tuesday to face their third straight Class A opponent before returning to league play later this week. The results from that game are available online at www.bigforkeagle.com and will also be in next week's Eagle.

Tonight, Jan. 21, the Bigfork boys host Eureka in a District 7B match-up.