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North Branch 77

Zimmerman 32

Some games are determined even before they start. Last Tuesday was one of those contests as North Branch hosted Zimmerman. The Thunder, who are comprised of mostly sophomores, went into the game still looking for the first Rum River win in the history of their program. They are out-matched each and every time they take the court. To be blunt, opposing coaches know it’s a guaranteed win, it just comes down to what a team wants to accomplish during that win. Bill Baumann knew exactly how he wanted his team to approach the game.

“That was a game we could have basically named the score but we used it as a teaching tool,” said Baumann, North Branch head boys basketball coach. “From early on in the second quarter we had an opportunity to work on some things. We starting working on some specific aspects of our offense and started to look to score on specific options and try to fine tune everything. We got a lot of playing time for everyone on the roster and everyone performed very well.”

One quarter was all North Branch needed to put the game away. After scoring the first five points of the game, Zimmerman answered back with the next four points, but that’s all the Vikings allowed as they went on to score 22 of the next 28 points, including a stretch where North Branch rattled off 17 straight. A total of seven players scored in the first quarter for the Vikings led by Matt Warren who hit for 10. The lead was 17 after one, 27-10.

The Vikings added 22 more points in the second on five three-pointers, moving their lead to 31 at the half. Even though North Branch shot only 33 percent in the quarter, thanks to 10 Zimmerman turnovers, the Viking lead stretched to 33 at one point.

It was only the beginning. Thanks to runs of 6-0 and 9-0 in the third, North Branch pushed their lead to 47 points. And while the Vikings were excelling on offense, just as impressive was their defense as they held the Thunder to five points in the quarter, forcing 10 more turnovers. North Branch scored 11 points off those turnovers.

The lead grew to 51 in the fourth before Zimmerman trimmed it back down. North Branch closed out the game by outscoring the Thunder 9-7 en route to a 77-32 win. Brian Tell, Anthony Vilaysack, Mark Johnson, and David Bennett took care of the scoring for the Vikings. A total of 12 Vikings scored in the game.

North Branch 77

Zimmerman 32

1 2 3 4 F

Zimmerman 10 8 5 9 32

North Branch 27 22 21 7 77

Scoring-

Warren 19, Beaver 14, Moriarty 11, Moore 9, Peterson 6, Novak 5, Perrin 5, Tell 2, Bennett 2, Johnson 2, Olson 1, Vilaysack 1.

North Branch 66

Big Lake 43

Scoring is contagious sometimes, and after putting 77 points on the board against Zimmerman, last Friday, the Vikings followed up that performance with another solid effort in a 66-43 win over Big Lake. The Vikings struck early and often, opening up a 17 point lead after one half of play. From there, their defense slammed the door. The win was the Vikings second in a row and their sixth of the season.

Once again, North Branch made their move in the first quarter. After Big Lake scored the first basket of the game, the Vikings answered by scoring the next 16 points, giving them a 14-2 lead. Even though the Hornets fought back with a 6-0 run of their own, the Vikings still held an eight point lead heading into the second quarter.

“Our defense has been setting the tone in recent games and that was the case in that game,” said Baumann. “The only problem we are having is finishing off the first quarter. We let them score the last six points of the quarter and let them back in the game. We had to come back and take back the momentum.”

They did just that.

North Branch more than doubled their lead over the next eight minutes by tacking on 20 more points. The Vikings got a spark from the three-point land where they sank four three’s in the quarter, the last of which was paired with a basket from Al Moore with less than 10 seconds to play in the half, running the Viking lead to 17 through 16 minutes of basketball.

“We are starting to take good care of the basketball and starting to share it a little more as we are becoming comfortable with each other,” mentioned Baumann. “By doing this, we are taking what the defense is giving us and every game someone new is our leading scorer.”

Against Big Lake, Nick Perrin had the hot hand, especially in the third where he hit two more three-pointers, giving him four in the game and 16 points through three quarters. Throw in another three from Jeff Olson and North Branch finished the third quarter with a bang, scoring 13 of the final 17 points of the quarter. The flurry of points built the North Branch lead to 51-28 at that point.

Leading by 23 points with one quarter left, the Vikings breezed the rest of the way. Big Lake never trimmed the deficit to less than 20 over the final quarter.

For the game, North Branch shot 42 percent from the field and 33 percent from the three-point line, but as good as their defense was, the Vikings defense was even better, holding the Hornets to 37 percent shooting for the game in addition to forcing 17 turnovers.

“We put two solid efforts together,” remarked Baumann. “We are starting to play more together on the offensive end and we are getting more confident on the defensive end.”

North Branch did most of their damage from beyond the arc, hitting 10 three-pointers in the game. Twelve players total scored for the Vikings led by Perrin who finished with 20. Beaver chipped in with 12 points.

“Our rotation is starting to fall into place and our depth wore on them,” added Baumann. “Even the officials stated after the game that it was like we had nine starters, that each player brings something to the table. The kids are giving all-out effort every game.”

North Branch 66

Big Lake 43

1 2 3 4 F

Big Lake 8 11 9 15 43

North Branch 16 20 15 15 66

Scoring-

Perrin 20, Beaver 11, Chambers 8, Olson 7, Warren 6, Peterson 3, Moriarty 2, Moore 2, Lindstrom 2, Kovarik 2, Vilaysack 2, Novak 1.

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