Vikings basketball hosts Eagles in season opener
It was a struggle for the AHSTW Vikings boys basketball team last year, ending the season 5-17, but with a majority of the returners back, the Vikings are hoping for a strong season.
“I’m very excited,” said Senior Camden Soukup. “We have a lot of freshman that are starting to move the game, and it should be a fun and new, exciting experience with a new team, so I’m very excited for the season.”
The Vikings are back in practice mode with head coach G.G. Harris leading the way, along with assistant coach Adam Krohn and newly acquired assistant coach, 2023 graduate, Abe McIntosh.
“Abe, as a player, was a guy that did all the dirty work,” Harris said. “He was always in the right spot at the right time. He was a kid who was kind of a point guard if his cousin Cole [Scheffler] didn’t play point guard. He understands the team. It’s a chessboard to him. As a coach, you can tell he’s going to be able to transfer what he saw as a player to a coach.”
Last season, the Vikings were led by Luke Sternberg with 343 points and 53 assists, along with Kaden Jorgensen with 134 rebounds. The Vikings only graduated one senior in Nick Denning, who was third on the team in rebounds with 99. Denning set a record during the season in which he started in his 91st game for the Vikings, the most in school history.
“You can’t replace a Nick Denning by any means,” Harris added. “One as a player, two as a leader. We’re not going to get one person to fill both of those. We’re going to be looking for a couple of players to try to compete to fill that role on the court. Someone who’s a really, really strong defensive player. Someone who is willing to sacrifice their body and give extremely high effort for four quarters.”
The Vikings five wins came against IKM-Manning, Audubon, Missouri Valley, St. Albert, and Denison in their regular season finale. They took a first round exit in Regionals losing a close battle 60-57 to the Clarinda Cardinals.
“Our offense was really a struggle,” Soukup said. “I think if we focus on our offense, I think we should be a pretty good team, and we can go pretty far this season.”
This season, the Vikings will open at home Dec. 6 with Western Iowa rival, the Underwood Eagles coming to town. Last season, the Eagles finished 24-1, losing the Class 2A State Quarterfinal Game to Unity Christian 59-55. They were led by Mason Boothby with 342 points, averaging 13.7 per game, along with Jack Vanfossan who averaged 10.2 rebounds and 4.4 assists per game.
“Going into that game, we’re pretty confident,” Soukup added. “They did lose a lot of seniors last year, which should be a really good confidence booster for us. I think if we pull away this game, it’s definitely going to be a game changer for the rest of the season.”
Following their opener against Underwood, it doesn’t get any easier, with two more WIC rivals in Tri-Center and Treynor. The Vikings will also play some tough non-conference opponents in ACGC, Red Oak, St. Albert, and Denison.
“Tri-Center returns almost everyone on the basketball court,” Harris said. “They have really good basketball players. Treynor is always phenomenal. I think the conference again like last year is going to be really deep. We don’t take our non-conference schedule lightly. We want to go out and compete. Those are schools that play high-level basketball and they play against high-level basketball during the regular season in their conferences.”