Vikings advance to section semifinals

The Vikings boys basketball squad came away with a 57-54 win in the quarterfinal round of section 6AAA playoffs March 6 against Mahtomedi in front of the North Branch crowd.
The win advanced the team to the semifinals where they were scheduled to take on Fridley Tuesday. A win in that game would put the Vikes in the 6AAA championship game Friday, March 14 at Irondale, pitted against either Totino-Grace or Spring Lake Park.
In the win over Mahtomedi, North Branch took a quick 5-0 lead as junior Britt Baumann hit a three-pointer and junior Matt Fletcher followed it up with a field goal.
The Vikes extended its lead to 18-10 after one quarter. The Zephyrs came back in the second quarter to outscore North Branch 14-8, narrowing the lead to 26-24 at halftime.
North Branch added 16 in the third and 15 in the fourth for the three-point lead and the win, 57-54.
Head Coach Bill Baumann said the team was not playing up to its full potential, partly because Mahtomedi fields an extremely physical team and North Branch had a few players under the weather for the game.
ìIt was a game of survival, but we survived,î he said. ìWe will need to play better on Tuesday if we want to advance to Friday,î he said.
Fletcher led in scoring with 18 points, followed by junior Jake Anderson with 12, Higley with 11 and Baumann with 10.
Fletcher and senior Jeremy Jaques led the team in rebounds with 5 apiece. Higley added to his strong offensive game by tallying 8 assists as well. Jake Anderson picked up 3 assists.
The team was 10 of 29 in three-pointers for almost 35 percent, and 9 of 14 in two-point attempts for 64 percent. The Vikes were at the line only 11 times for the game, making 9 of those shots for nearly 92 percent.

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