Vikes 1-1 after opening weekend

The Bigfork High School boys basketball team is 1-1 with a win over Hamilton, 73-41, and a narrow loss to Dillon, 43-41, in the Northwestern/Southwestern A Tip-Off Tournament over the weekend.

Head coach Kurt Paulson said the game against Hamilton was a good way to start the season. The boys began Friday’s game against Hamilton aggressively and with high energy.

“We kind of jumped out on them and hit some shots,” Paulson said. “After that we just kept on them for the rest of the game.”

The Vikes were up 38-18 at the half. Paulson was able to get all of his younger players in the game during the second half and Bigfork maintained its lead with ease, ending the second half 34-23.

Paulson said it was an overall effort from the team. He was especially pleased with his two seniors who missed last season due to injuries. They played like they didn’t miss a season, connecting with the rest of the team.

“It was nice to get Colter (Trent) and Seth (Roessmann) back after a long time,” Paulson said.

Trent scored 14 points against Hamilton, Roessmann put up 13, Austin Jordt scored 16 and Chris Landon had nine.

Saturday’s game against Dillon was a defensive battle to the last buzzer with low scoring on both ends of the court. Paulson said Dillon was a physical, talented and well-coached team — a great team to play at the start of the season.

“We were right there with them,” Paulson said. “I just think we could have played better.”

It wasn’t that the Vikes played bad, Dillon just knocked them off their game, forcing 23 turnovers and preventing shooters like Trent and Jordt from getting shots off.

Although the Vikes beat Dillon in free throws, going 15 of 20 for the game to Dillon’s 11 out of 24, Bigfork just couldn’t get the edge. Bigfork won the first quarter 14-7, lost the second 16-6, won the third 8-7 and tied the fourth 13-13.

Roessmann put up 11 points for the Vikes and Landon had nine. Paulson said Landon and Roessmann performed the most consistently from game to game.

“They both had around 10 points each game, played good defense and were just solid,” Paulson said.

As the Vikes head into this week’s practices, they prepare for their first two district games against Eureka and Plains. Paulson said the Vikes have a lot to work on and are going to focus on taking care of the ball, free throws and executing against a zone defense.

They head to Eureka on Thursday and host Plains on Saturday at 3 p.m. The freshmen boys host Whitefish next Monday at 7 p.m. and the junior varsity team hosts Glacier next Tuesday at 5:30 p.m.