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Cambridge-Isanti 70

North Branch 59

It was what North Branch boys basketball head coach Bill Baumann called a typical opening weekend.

Some good, some not so good, one win, one loss.

The loss came last Friday night to Cambridge-Isanti in their first game of the season, 70-59.

The Bluejackets wasted little time jumping in front, scoring the first four points before North Branch broke onto the scoreboard. The Vikings first make was, what else, a three-pointer. One of 14 in the game by North Branch.

On the other side of the court, Cambridge-Isanti hit just treys in the game, they did need anymore than that. After shooting 57 percent for the game, their greatest weapon was execution.

Behind the strength of five first quarter baskets, the Bluejackets built a ho-hum 12 lead after one.

However, in the second, there was nothing ho-hum about them.

After a Matt Fletcher three gave North Branch the lead early in the second, Cambridge went on a 22-10 run, catapulting themselves to a 34-25 lead at the half.

The Bluejackets shot 64 percent from the field in the second quarter.

“We made a few defensive mistakes and you can’t do that against a good team,” remarked Baumann. “Cambridge is a very experienced team and they execute well. We dug ourselves a hole early in the second quarter and we really had our work cut out for us.”

The hole got deeper in the third as the Bluejackets increased their lead to 15. Paced by the three, North Branch fought back, making a run of their own. Fletcher started it with back-to-back three’s, followed by a bomb from Britt Baumann and a three-pointer from Matt Nelson. The flurry cut the Cambridge lead to 10 after three.

It was more North Branch, Fletcher, and three-balls early in the fourth as the Vikings got within four. Fletcher’s second three of the quarter made it 59-55 Bluejackets with five minutes to play.

However, that was close as it would get. Cambridge immediately answered with a fast break lay-up, sparking a 11-4 run to close the game en route to a 70-59 win.

Fletcher led the Vikings with 20 points and eight rebounds while Britt Baumann and Matt Nelson each scored 13.

The loss put the Vikings at 0-1 on the season.

“I was pleased with our effort in the game,” said Baumann. “We could have folded when we were down by 15 but we rallied and cut the lead to four and had the ball. Give Cambridge credit, they have an experienced team and held off a rally and took control of the game again. The good thing was that we had a game the next night to get back on track.”

Cambridge-Isanti 70

North Branch 59

1 2 3 4 F

Cambridge-Isanti 12 22 21 15 70

North Branch 11 14 20 14 59

Scoring:

Fletcher 20, Baumann 13, Nelson 13, Anderson 9, McClaskie 4.

North Branch 67

Duluth Central 53

Baumann and the Vikings wanted to get back on the track last Saturday versus Duluth Central and they did, picking up their first win of the season, 67-53.

While their defense got a C grading the night before versus Cambridge, the Vikings put forth an A performance against the Trojans.

“We wanted to focus on our defense against Duluth,” remarked Baumann. “We had some lapses against Cambridge and we wanted to put more pressure on the ball. I knew our offense might not be as good because we might not have our legs as much because of the back to back games.”

North Branch set the tone early and often with a physical style that would make most NBA teams proud. A charge here, a strip there kept Central off balance, scoring just 12 points in the first quarter.

Meanwhile, the Vikings turned up their transition games, hitting five three-pointers en route to a 20-12 first quarter lead.

The second was more of the same as the North Branch defense forced seven Central turnovers. Offensively, the Vikings increased their lead as five different players scored, jumping in front 36-23 at the half.

“We started to get more comfortable with our rotation in the Duluth game,” mentioned Baumann. “We had a lot of players seeing their first action against Cambridge and they got into the flow much better in the Central game. I think we should continue to improve as we get more time together on the court. I thought Ben Stenberg, Bowie McClaskie, Greg Moriarty, and Al Moore looked more comfortable in the second game and did some nice things out there.”

The North Branch lead grew from there and Central never got close. Four Viking three-pointers pushed the lead to 57-35 after three, 67-53 after four.

Fourteen players saw the court for North Branch in the game and seven scored. Fletcher led the Vikings with 16. Baumann, Anderson, and Nelson also reached double figures.

The win evened the Vikings record at 1-1 with White Bear Lake and Princeton on the way this week.

North Branch 67

Duluth Central 53

1 2 3 4 F

Duluth Central 12 11 12 18 53

North Branch 20 16 21 10 67

Scoring:

Fletcher 16, Baumann 12, Nelson 12, Anderson 11, McClaskie 8, Beaver 6, Moore 2.

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