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By Steve Morris
 In all games to win, none may be better than against a long-time rival.
The Vikings defeated the Chisago Lakes Wildcats in a low scoring affair 48-38 at home Jan. 17.
With less than 14 minutes left in the game, the score was knotted at
17. And with each team in the double bonus for most of the second half,
it seemed the teams spent more time on the free throw line than they
did running up and down the court.
“I’m sure coach [Herb] Jangor couldn’t have been happy with his team’s
first half offensive output either and when we left at halftime I told
him the first half performance set basketball back 50 years. I was
ready to put peach crates back up,” head coach Bill Baumann said.
For most of the second half, the Vikings worked their offensive scheme
patiently passing, screening, and cutting as they seemed to have
Baumann’s offensive down to a science.
The boy’s defensive game was on target, as they successfully dealt with
Wildcat junior Josh Figni, who has emerged as one the top players in
the North Suburban Conference. Figni, stands a 6’8 yet runs the floor
like a point guard.
Figni ran into foul trouble in second half and was forced to the bench,
which summoned
Baumann off the bench, clapping his hands victoriously.
Bryce Hunter flies through the air in an unsuccessful
attempt to block a three point shot from a Chisago Lakes player Jan. 17 at home.
Pictured: Bryce Hunter flies through the air in an unsuccessful
attempt to block a three point shot from a Chisago Lakes player Jan. 17 at home.
Later, Figni fouled out which may have helped the Vikings win the game.
In the end, it came down to free throws as the boys sank enough from the charity strip to walk away with a conference win.
Senior Jake Chambers offensive output produced 15 points on four of eight from the floor.
In Baumann’s book, all that matters was they won.
“The game may not have been pretty but both teams play hard and give all out efforts all the time,” he said.
Jake Chambers 4-8 6-8 15; Kyle Grote 2-4 3-4 9; Mike Dahl 3-3 0-0 8;
John Lindstrom 1-6 4-6 7; Ryan Norman 1-4 2-2 5; Dan Ginal 0-3 2-2 2;
Bryce Hunter 0-1 2-2 2; Deon Farr 0-2 0-0 0; Kirk Dahle 0-2 0-0 0; Alex
Sundly 0-0 0-0 0; Eric Sampson 0-0 0-0 0; Totals 11-33 19-24 48.
North Branch 12 36 48
Chisago Lakes 15 23 38
3-point goals-North Branch 7-25 (Kyle Grote 2-4; Mike Dahl 2-2; Ryan
Norman 1-3; John Lindstrom 1-6; Jake Chambers 1-4; Deon Farr 0-1; Dan
Ginal 0-3; Kirk Dahle 0-1; Bryce Hunter 0-1) , Chisago Lakes 5-20
(Wildcats 5-20) . Fouled out--North Branch-None, Chisago Lakes-None.
Rebounds-North Branch 29 (John Lindstrom 8) , Chisago Lakes 26
(Wildcats 23) . Assists-North Branch 8 (Ryan Norman 2; Jake Chambers 2;
Mike Dahl 2) , Chisago Lakes 0 () . Total Fouls-North Branch 20,
Chisago Lakes .
Robbinsdale Cooper
Versus Robbinsdale Cooper on Jan. 15, the glue that was bonding the
boys to the Hawks wore thin and the Hawks ended with a 76-45 win.
Norman finished with 11 points and had the hot hand behind the arc as
he nailed three of four three pointers. Chambers finished with nine
points.
“We actually did a lot of what we wanted to do against Cooper in the
first half but just couldn’t finish,” Baumann said. “It was a
frustrating game because we didn’t execute very well again so I told
the kids just to flush this game and let’s look at our next game.”
Ryan Norman 3-7 2-2 11; Jake Chambers 4-11 1-2 9; Kyle Grote 2-5
2-2 8; Bryce Hunter 2-5 2-4 6; Eric Sampson 2-4 0-0 4; Deon Farr 1-3
1-2 3; Dan Ginal 1-5 0-0 2; Mike Dahl 1-3 0-0 2; John Lindstrom 0-2 0-0
0; Kirk Dahle 0-2 0-0 0; Alex Sundly 0-2 0-0 0; Aaron Good 0-0 0-0 0;
Totals 16-49 8-12 45.
North Branch 22 23 45
Cooper 31 45 76
3-point goals-North Branch 5-22 (Ryan Norman 3-4; Kyle Grote 2-5; Deon
Farr 0-1; John Lindstrom 0-2; Dan Ginal 0-4; Kirk Dahle 0-1; Jake
Chambers 0-2; Bryce Hunter 0-1; Alex Sundly 0-1; Mike Dahl 0-1), Cooper
7-18 (Cooper 7-18). Fouled out -- North Branch - None, Cooper -None.
Rebounds - North Branch 31 (Jake Chambers 6), Cooper 32 (Cooper 29).
Assists-North Branch 11 (Jake Chambers 6), Cooper 0. Total Fouls-North
Branch 17, Cooper .
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