Vikes off to a bumpy start

The boys varsity basketball team had a rough start to their season, going 0-2 at the Hamilton Tip Off last weekend.

“I think we’re more disappointed in how we did in the first game than the second,” said head Bigfork boys basketball coach Lyle Whiteman. “Corvallis is ranked first in the southwest conference, but we played better against them than we did in our first game.

“Overall, I was pleased with their hard work. We certainly didn’t give up. I think we have a lot long ways to go both offensively and defensively, but the tournament was a good way for us to see where we’re at.”

Although they were the first to get on the board in their game against Hamilton on Friday, Bigfork lost 57-46.

“The kids played like they were nervous,” Whiteman said. “They were a little uptight. They were playing a new game and a new system. They were probably putting a lot of pressure on themselves. We made quite a few mistakes and missed a lot of shots, but the effort was there.”

The Vikings were behind by just three points at the end of the first quarter, 15-12. But by half time the deficit had grown to 27-19 after Bigfork was held to just seven points in the second quarter.

“We need to work on decision making,” Whiteman said. “Things like where to pass the ball. We had a few turnovers that cost us some positioning in the game.”

The Broncs started the third quarter with back-to-back 3-pointers, and then added another eight points later in the quarter. The Vikings kept fighting though, and put up 16 points in the third, making it the highest scoring quarter for both teams. Bigfork kept the gap within ten going into the fourth, but couldn’t outscore the Broncs in the final quarter and put up 11 to their 13.

Seniors Brock Boll and Garrett Pewe scored the majority of Bigfork’s points putting up 17 and 10, respectively. Boll was also the leading rebounder for the Vikings with seven, had two assists and was successful in his one and only free throw attempt. Pewe had three boards, five steals, two assists and was two-for three from the free-throw line. Seniors Lael Richmond and Scott Taylor each had four rebounds.

Saturday night the Bigfork boys struggled again, losing 75-52 against Corvallis.

“They were a little more at ease,” Whiteman said. “Our shooting was much better. We were hurt the most by foul trouble early on in the game. There were some great individual efforts at times throughout the game.”

The Vikings scored only nine points in the first quarter, were down 38-22 by the half, and never caught up.

Boll led the team with 12 points and nine rebounds. Senior Jake Milner contributed nine points, including a 3-pointer, and made five rebounds. Richmond had eight points, was two-for-three from the free-throw line and had eight rebounds. Senior Donny Tudahl had seven points and five rebounds.

“We shot very poorly this weekend,” Whiteman said. “We were at about 20 to 25 percent on Friday night and about 29 percent on Saturday. We do have kids that can shoot much better than that, but it was the first games and they were nervous and trying to put everything together that they’ve learned.

“Brock Boll and Jake Milner played consistently hard all weekend and kept us in the games both offensively and defensively. Boll was our high scorer and he was there with the rebounding all weekend. Milner played with great intensity and kept everyone going.”

Whiteman took four JV players to the Hamilton tournament, and each of them had strong contributions.  

Sophomore Ben Sandry, was a perfect two-for-two from the free-throw line against Hamilton, boasting a higher percentage than most of his more experienced teammates. Sophomore Evan Jordt had a pair of rebounds and assists, as well as one steal and made a field goal against the Broncs. On Saturday sophomore Christian Ker put in one of only two 3-pointers made by Bigfork during the entire tournament, and was one-of-two from the line. Richmond, was a rebound leader both nights and one of the leading scorers against Corvallis.

“I thought that they all contributed well,” Whiteman said of the JV players. “I hope they all got their first game jitters out, even though some of them played some varsity before. We are still trying out some combinations and seeing where we want to play everyone. We’ll probably bring others up at other times as well so they can get some varsity experience and we can see how they fit in with everything.”

The boys traveled to Big Sky High School on Tuesday and tonight, Dec. 18, they host Libby.

“We saw Libby play down at the tournament,” Whiteman said. “They looked like a pretty good ball club. They are pretty aggressive and they’ll be a challenge for us. Hopefully we’ll be able to shoot better our home court with our home crowd. It’s always an anxious thing  to get started on your conference schedule after having a couple of warm up games. Hopefully we’ll learn some more things when we play Big Sky on Tuesday and be able to carry that over to Thursday’s game against Libby.”