Vikings boys earn honors

Five members of the North Branch boys basketball team were named to the Rum River All-Conference team.
Head Coach Bill Baumann also was named Coach of the Year.
Matt Fletcher, Tyler Higley, Jake Anderson and Britt Baumann were named All-Conference and Jared Gagne was earned Honorable Mention.
Fletcher led the conference in scoring averaging 19.8 points per game while shooting at 58 percent.
He led the conference in 3-pointers, making 44 of 91 for 48.3 percent. Fletcher also was 12th in rebounding averaging 5.3 rebounds.
He made 73.7 percent of his conference free throws and averaged 3.7 assists.
Higley ranked 19th in conference for scoring with 10.2 points per game, while finishing 7th in assists with 3.8 per game.
Anderson ranked 14th in scoring with 11 points per game. He was 6th in assists with 3.9 averaged per game. Anderson ranked 8th in 3-point field goal percentage by making 46 of 118 for 38.9 percent.
Baumann ranked 18th in scoring with 10.3 points per game and 2nd in three point percentage by making 41 of 91 for 45 percent.
Gagne averaged 4.7 points per game and was a key contributor to the Vikings league-leading defense.
The Vikings led the conference in scoring with 1039 points for 64.9 points per game averaged, while leading the conference in defense by allowing 829 points for an average of 51.8 points per game.
Baumann was named Rum River Coach of the Year for the third time in the last four years.
As a team, the Vikings also set state records in the number of three point field goals attempted and made for a season.
For the year, the team made 317 of 813 attempted for 39 percent.
In its conference-leading season, the team went 15-1 overall with a 7-1 home record and 8-0 away record.
The team scored a total of 1,039 points, 57 more than the second place St. Michael-Albertville Knights.
The Vikings had four players make more than 65 three pointers for the season as Anderson made 83, Fletcher 80, Higley 70 and Baumann 68.
ìWe have a perceived reputation of shooting nothing but threes,î Baumann commented.
ìBut it is deceiving. Itís true we shoot a lot behind the arc but we are just taking advantage of strength. We still made 57 percent of our shots inside the arc, itís just that we lack the size to run a true ëpost upí game.
ìIt gives the kids a reason to practice shooting and confidence in shooting because if they can make it we let them take it,î Baumann said.

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