Vikes drop opening pair in Class A at Frenchtown
Wyatt Johnson drives to the basket for a tough shot at Frenchtown Friday. (Jeremy Weber/Bigfork Eagle)
The Vikings watched a pair of games slip through their fingers over the weekend as they opened the season at the Western A Tip Off in Frenchtown.
Making the jump to Class A, the Vikes opened the season with a Friday afternoon matchup against the homestanding Frenchtown Broncs and found themselves in an early hole thanks to Frenchtown’s Eli Quinn.
Down 13-6 after the opening quarter, the Vikings outscored the Broncs by two in the second quarter to cut their halftime deficit to 26-21.
Frenchtown pushed its lead in the opening moments of the second quarter, but Bigfork rallied and tied the game at 36 on a Jack Jensen three at the third quarter buzzer.
Quinn and the Broncs proved to be too much down the stretch as the Vikings ended up falling, 52-48 in a well-contested game.
Eli Thorness led the Vikings with 13 points and 10 rebounds in the loss while Jensen added 12 points and nine boards.
Asher Knopik finished with seven points, Cole Knopik had six, Wyatt Johnson and Colin Wade each scored four and Dylan Porrovecchio had two points.
Bigfork jumped out to an 8-1 lead in the opening moments of the their game against Dillon Saturday, holding the Beavers without a field goal in the opening quarter to grab a 10-2 advanage after eight minutes of action.
Dillon’s first field goal came with 7:12 to play in the second quarter and the Beavers quickly cut the lead to 10-9 before a pair of Cole Knopik threes helped Bigfork push its lead to 17-9.
Bigfork led 22-15 at the half, but the Beavers rallied in the third quarter, outscoing the Vikes 20-4 to go up 35-26.
Bigfork never recovered as the Beavers pulled away to win 47-30.
Cole Knopik led the way for the Vikings with 14 points - including four threes - while Asher Knopik put in nine points and four rebounds.
Wade had four points, Jensen added two points and five rebounds and Thorness scored one.
Johnson was held scoreless but finished with seven rebounds and four assists.
The Vikings were at home to face Polson after deadline Tuesday and will be in Lewistown for the East/West Tip Off this weekend.