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By Steve Morris
 “Do your job,” yelled North Branch head basketball coach Bill Baumann to his players during the shrinking minutes of their game against North Suburban Conference rival Fridley Tigers last week.
It was just one antic Baumann used to rally his troops past the Tigers in a tightly fought conference game. As the final score board proved, Baumann’s bench antics weren’t enough as the Vikings lost 48-40.
The boys did plenty of things correct, except produce points, as they were only able to muster 40 points.
Baumann said his team may be in the top 10 in the state for fewest points allowed, but near the bottom for points scored.
Right: North Branch Jake Chambers, center, drove to the basket
aggressively and was awarded with a foul and two free throws in the
second half of their game against Fridley Jan. 31.
“The kids are really taking the defensive game plan and executing it to perfection,” he said.
Baumann blames part of the problem on a lack of players stepping up to the plate on the offense end.
“Everybody needs to step up. We are playing tight on the offensive end. We need to relax and hit a couple of shots. Shooting is a lot about confidence and we have to be confident in our shooting,” Baumann said.
North Branch was neck and neck with Fridley for most of the game, until Fridley put a nail in the coffin with a three pointer to go up by eight points with 1:14 left in the game. On their next possession they stopped the Vikings and then scored to go up 10.
Senior John Lindstrom led the team with 10 points on three of eight shooting, while Jake Chambers added nine points.
Chambers ran into foul trouble in the first half and was forced to the bench.
The boys were able to score easy buckets under the basket with their quick cuts to catch the Fridley defenders off guard.
Fridley 20 28 48
North Branch 17 23 40
John Lindstrom 3-8 1-2 10; Jake Chambers 3-13 3-4 9; Deon Farr 2-2 0-0 5; Ryan Norman 2-4 0-0 4; Kyle Grote 2-4 0-0 4; Bryce Hunter 2-5 0-0 4; Kirk Dahle 1-1 0-0 2; Eric Sampson 1-2 0-0 2; Dan Ginal 0-1 0-0 0; Mike Dahl 0-0 0-0 0; Totals 16-40 4-6 40.
3-point goals-Fridley 4-8 (Fridley 4-8) , North Branch 4-17 (John Lindstrom 3-7; Deon Farr 1-1; Kyle Grote 0-2; Dan Ginal 0-1; Jake Chambers 0-6) . Fouled out--Fridley-None, North Branch-None. Rebounds-Fridley 26 (Fridley 22) , North Branch 26 (Bryce Hunter 6) . Assists-Fridley 0 () , North Branch 14 (Jake Chambers 5) . Total Fouls-Fridley 15, North Branch .
St. Louis Park
North Branch (8-10, 3-9) played well the first 30 minutes of its game against the St. Louis Park Orioles but fell apart in the last 10 minutes.
In a game that featured six lead changes, the Vikings were not able to sustain a surge long enough to pull away for good.
The last 10 minutes of the game equaled a 56-45 loss.
In the second half, the boys had a 10-point lead when Lindstrom hit a three pointer with 14 minutes left in the game. With seven minutes in the game, the Orioles took the lead for good.
Chambers led the team with 13 points while Lindstrom added 10.
“If we can fine tune our offense with the way our defense is playing we could be pretty dangerous at tournament time,” Baumann said.
Up next, the boys play St. Francis on the road Friday.
St. Louis Park 20 36 56
North Branch 24 21 45
Jake Chambers 3-12 6-7 13; John Lindstrom 3-6 1-2 10; Bryce Hunter 3-8 1-4 7; Dan Ginal 2-7 0-2 6; Ryan Norman 2-4 0-0 5; Deon Farr 1-1 0-0 2; Eric Sampson 1-2 0-0 2; Kyle Grote 0-1 0-0 0; Kirk Dahle 0-0 0-0 0; Mike Dahl 0-0 0-0 0; Totals 15-41 8-15 45.
3-point goals-St. Louis Park 4-13 (StLP 4-13) , North Branch 7-21 (John Lindstrom 3-6; Dan Ginal 2-7; Ryan Norman 1-2; Jake Chambers 1-5; Bryce Hunter 0-1) . Fouled out--St. Louis Park-None, North Branch-None. Rebounds-St. Louis Park 30 (StLP 28) , North Branch 26 (Dan Ginal 6) . Assists-St. Louis Park 0 () , North Branch 9 (Kirk Dahle 2; Jake Chambers 2) . Total Fouls-St. Louis Park 12, North Branch .
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