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The North Branch boys’ basketball team traveled to Princeton Monday, February 13. The Tigers were less than hospitable, as they handed the Vikings a 65-39 defeat.

The Vikings and Tigers played even for the first five minutes. At that point, North Branch led 8-7. But, Princeton went on an 11-0 run over the next seven minutes that left the Vikings on the wrong end of an 18-8 score.

The Vikings responded with a run of their own. NB outscored the Tigers 9-0 and, at the 4:03 mark, the Princeton lead was cut to 18-17 after a Jake Chambers three.

Then things went bad, again. Over the final four minutes the Tigers’ 11-0 surge put them up 29-17 at the half.

Justin Novak, Matt Warren and Chambers scored in the first two minutes of the second period. That cut the Princeton margin to eight (31-23). The Vikings were never able to get any closer. Another Tiger run of 12 put the Vikings in a hole from which they could not escape.

The scoring of Chambers and Nick Perrin were not enough to keep the Vikes in the game and Princeton gradually increased its lead as it coasted to an easy win.

“Princeton just had too much size for us.  We were able to attack early but their size just wore us down.  When we converged on their size they then got hot from the perimeter,” said head Viking coach Bill Baumann.

The Tigers’ dominance was reflected in the game statistics. They outrebounded NB 49-26 and outshot the visitors 53 percent to 29 percent. David Bennett led the Viking rebounders with three and Travis Peterson had three steals.

Scoring Summary

North Branch 17 22 39

Princeton 29 36 65

David Bennett ..................... 2

Jake Chambers .....................11

Justin Novak ..................... 6

Nick Perrin ..................... 7

Matt Warren .....................10

Ryan Norman ..................... 3

Total 39

North Branch vs. Rogers

On Valentine’s day, the Vikings gave coach Baumann his first win in more than a month. His team played strong defense and had a good offensive second half on the way to a 60-42 victory over Rogers.

The Vikes got off to a fast start against the Royals. The Vikings opened the scoring with a Chambers three in the first minute. The basket gave them a lead they would not relinquish.

At the 12:24 mark, NB had built an 11-4 lead. For the rest of the half, the Vikings’ lead was between three and seven points. At the intermission, the home team was ahead 26-20.

The first five minutes of the second half put the Vikings in control. Chambers scored nine points and Perrin added two before Rogers was able to find the net. By then, the Vikings enjoyed a 37-20 lead.

The Royals never got closer than 12 points as NB ended its losing streak in a big way.

“We played a steady game against Rogers.  We were methodical in what we were trying to do,” Baumann said.

The key to this game may have been in shot selection. The Vikings shot over 40 percent, despite connecting on only four of 18 three pointers. Meanwhile, Rogers hit less than 33 percent from the field.

Travis Peterson led the rebounders with six. David Bennett grabbed five boards. John Lindstrom had four steals for the Vikings and Nick Perrin picked the Royals’ pockets three times.

Scoring Summary

North Branch 26 34 60

Rogers 20 22 42

David Bennett ..................... 5

Jake Chambers .....................21

Jake Kovarik ..................... 2

John Lindstrom ..................... 3

Justin Novak ..................... 6

Jeff Olson ..................... 2

Nick Perrin .....................13

Travis Peterson ..................... 4

Matt Warren ..................... 4

Total 60

North Branch vs. St. Francis

Friday, February 17

The weather was cold and so were the shooters. Neither team shot 40 percent from the field as the Saints beat the Vikings 46-36.

Perrin and Chambers field goals put the Vikings up 5-0 in the first three minutes of the contest. But, St. Francis scored the next six to take their first lead three minutes later.

The first half was like that for the entire 18 minutes. The lead changed hands seven times and Bennett scored with five seconds left to create the third tie of the game (22-22) at halftime.

The Saints took the lead, for good by scoring the first seven points after the break. With 14 :07 left, a Saint Francis three put it up by 11 (35-24). From that point, the Vikings never got closer than eight as NB wasn’t able to put enough pressure on the Saints to create turnovers.

Saint Francis successfully took time off the clock and made enough freethrows to maintain a comfortable margin.

“We had the day off from school on Friday and we played like we took the day off from basketball.  We had no energy.  St. Francis decided to shoot three pointers and, even though they didn't do a good job of hitting them, they produced long rebounds and gave them many second shots.  One early stretch at the beginning of the second half did us in,” Baumann commented.

Those long rebounds contributed to a 38-24 Saint advantage on the boards.

Chambers led the Vikings with nine rebounds, Novak had four steals and Peterson assisted on three Viking baskets.

Scoring Summary

North Branch 22 14 36

St. Francis 22 24 46

David Bennett ..................... 5

Jake Chambers .....................11

John Lindstrom ..................... 5

Justin Novak ..................... 5

Nick Perrin ..................... 6

Travis Peterson ..................... 2

Bryce Hunter ..................... 2

Total 36

“We had a busy week playing three games in five days.  It was nice to play a couple of games at home after only having two at home in the last month and a half,” Baumann added

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