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By Cynthia Scott
Consistency continued to be elusive last week for the North Branch boysí basketball team, who fell 62-50 to the Mora Mustangs on Jan. 25 and lost to rival Chisago Lakes 74-53 on Jan. 27.
The Vikings nearly went basket-for-basket with the Mustangs in the first half, trailing 29-28 at the break. But the second half saw a scoring drought in the third quarter, with Mora putting in 17 points to the Vikingsí 8. The Vikings rallied in the fourth to cut the lead to under six points, but could not overtake Mora.
Jake Chambers led the Vikingsí scoring attack with 16 points. He and Matt Warren led the team in rebounds with four apiece.
Third quarter woes proved to be decisive against Chisago Lakes as well. The Vikings were down 17-15 at the end of the first quarter and fell behind by seven points in the second before rallying to cut the lead to 3 at halftime, 35-32. The rally featured a balanced scoring attack that saw Matt Warren, Jake Chambers, Justin Novak and Nate Perrin each score 3 points.
Scoring started slowly in the third quarter, and with 5:40 left in the frame North Branch tied the score at 35. Thatís when things began to unravel for the Vikings.
The Wildcats scored three consecutive baskets in the next three possessions, while North Branch missed two shots. Following a Viking timeout, North Branch committed a turnover and Chisago Lakes answered with a 3-pointer followed by two more unanswered field goals to push the lead to 12.
ìIt is what a team does in a handful of critical possessions that is the difference between a win and a loss,î said Coach Bill Baumann. ìTo come back on Chisago was going to be a major chore. We have been struggling lately offensively and to give a good team like Chisago Lakes that kind of lead is a killer. We needed to keep the game close to have a chance.
ìI was proud of our kids in that we played hard against a good team, especially giving up so much size. When they got the ball inside we werre at a big disadvantage and if we tried to stop their inside game by double teaming, their other players were free.î
Chambers and Greg Moriarity shared the scoring honors, with 15 and 11 points respectively. Matt Warren chipped in 10 while hauling in 7 rebounds.
Up next: Feb. 4 v. Pine City, 7 p.m.
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