Vikings drop season opener to Eagles

Early into Friday’s home game, the AHSTW Vikings started off matching the Underwood Eagles shot-for-shot and point-for-point, but the Eagles soon soared over the Vikings, flying away with the game en route to a 75-46 victory.

“Not the way we wanted to start,” said Viking Head Coach G.G. Harris. “It’s only one game. You don’t win a state championship in December. We’re doing a lot of right things. It’s just not at a high enough level yet.”

The first basket of the game came via free throw from Junior Eagle Garrett Luett, followed by free throws from Junior Viking Drew Lee. The Vikings and Eagles continued to match each other, until Junior Eagle Connor Brummett made a shot from 3-point range, which started 9-0 run before Senior Viking Luke Sternberg put a stop to the Eagles run with a basket. Sternberg was able to make the final shot of the quarter, but the Vikings still trailed 23-13.

The second quarter opened with a 3-pointer from Sophomore Eagle Tayden Hull, but was answered with a 3-point shot from Sternberg. The Eagles made back-to-back 3’s Manuel Rodgers and Hull, and later on in the quarter making back-to-back mid-range shots from Luett and Rodgers. The Vikings managed to go on a 5-0 run with a 3-pointer from Freshman Evan Harder and a layup from Sternberg, but trailed by 14 points at halftime.

“Early on, six is just a two possession game,” Harris said. “At the half when we got down 14, we talked about it’s a chip away thing. We want to cut that thing in half as soon as can, but it might take the entire third quarter. I did think there were moments where we were chipping away, but you’ve got to credit Underwood. They shot the ball well and got to the free throw line.”

The third quarter began with Rodgers making a shot from 3-point range. The first Vikings baskets came via free throws from Senior Camden Soukup, but following Soukup’s buckets, the Eagles offense came alive once again going on a 11-0 run before Lee put a stop to the Eagles run with a basket.

The fourth quarter was a back-and-forth affair, with the first shot coming from Luett, followed by a 3-pointer from Soukup. Soukup managed to make another shot where he was fouled in the act of shooting, sending him to the free throw line where he made the and 1, but the Vikings couldn’t catch up losing their first game of the season.

The Vikings return to action against the 2-0 Tri-Center Trojans, who are coming off an 80-67 win over MVAOCOU. The Trojans are led by Junior Tyler Baatz, averaging 26.5 points and 14.5 rebounds per game, along with Sophomore AJ Harder, averaging 7.5 assists.

“They’re really good,” Harris said of Tri-Center. “They’re super confident right now. They’re young, but they’re deep. They play a really good brand of basketball. They do a lot of really nice things offensively. They can score the basketball and they’re very athletic, so they can play some defense.”

 
 

 

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