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Two furious, late-game comebacks fell just short for the North Branch boys' basketball team at home last week. Thursday, January 4, the Vikings lost to Totino-Grace 52-49. Friday, January 5, they cut a 13 point Grand Rapids lead into a two point deficit in the last three minutes, before losing to the Thunderhawks 53-57.

Totino-Grace 16 36 52

North Branch 19 30 49

North Branch got off to a good start against the Eagles Thursday. Six different Vikings scored for the Vikings in the first six minutes. Nick Perrin, Jake Chambers, Justin Novak, Eric Sampson, John Lindstrom and Bryce Hunter had all hit from the field as NB built a 12-6 lead. By the 10:17 mark, a Novak freethrow and two from Perrin gave the Vikings a 15-6 advantage, their biggest of the night.

However the Viking offense stalled at that point. NB could manage only two Chambers field goals over the last 10 minutes as the Eagles crawled back into the game. When the halftime buzzer sounded, the Vikings had a 19-16 lead.

"We are really struggling from the field and it is odd because we are hitting those same shots in practice," said North Branch head coach Bill Baumann. "We just have to stop 'trying' to make it and let it just happen. We are running the offense effectively but the shots are just not falling--inside or out or from the free throw line, for that matter.  We are getting a lot of clean good looks, but we are just not burying them."

In the first part of the second half, the Vikings built and maintained a five to eight point lead. But, the Eagles outscored the Vikes seven to two in a four minute span that resulted in the game's first tie (30-30) with 10 minutes remaining.

For the next eight minutes, the teams traded baskets, leading to a tie at 43 at the two minute mark. Totino scored the next seven points to go up 50-43 with only 32 seconds left. A steal by Novak led to a three point shot by Chambers at the 0:25 mark. Chambers missed the three-ball, but was fouled and sunk all three from the line to make it a 50-46 game.

A second later, the Vikings fouled and put the Eagles on the line for two. The fouled Eagle connected on one of two to give his team a four-point margin. With seven seconds left, Ryan Norman found Perrin open for a three point attempt. Perrin drained the long jumper to make it 51-49 in Totino's favor.

Forced to foul again, the Vikings put the Eagles on the line with three ticks left. One of two from the line gave Totino the final 52-49 margin. A last second shot sailed wide as time ran out.

North Branch Scoring

Justin Novak 7

Nick Perrin 11

John Lindstrom 9

Jake Chambers 16

Bryce Hunter 2

Eric Sampson 4

Total 49

Grand Rapids at North Branch

The Vikings couldn't find the range early against the Thunderhawks. Only Nick Perrin's two freethrows and long three-pointer and Bryce Hunter's field goal answered 17 points from Rapids' shooters in the first seven minutes. Trailing 17-7, the Vikings cut it to seven when Ryan Norman dropped a three at the 10:53 mark.

The 'Hawks responded with a three of their own and a single freethrow to build an 11 point (21-10) lead. Led by its defense, the Vikings outscored Grand Rapids 13-4 over the last six minutes to make the score 25-23 at halftime.

The second half started the way the first had. The Vikings scored only a point per minute in the first 15 minutes of the period. By that time, NB had fallen behind 51-38.

In the last three minutes, the Justin Novak led Viking defense swarmed like angry bees. Bodies flew all over the court and the Vikings repeatedly stole the ball or were called for fouls while trying to. They made six shots from the floor, including three from behind the arc, to match their offensive output for the first 15 minutes.

However, the Thunderhawks made enough freethrows to survive the onslaught. The last two, with three seconds on the clock, created the 57-53 final score.

"Defensively, we are playing pretty well.  Even with giving up a lot of points to Benilde we are still holding our opponents to 52 points per game, which is where we want to be," said coach Baumann. "We are playing extremely hard.  Other teams may work as hard as we do, but I don't think anybody outworks us.  The problem is we are working hard and getting nothing to show for it.  It's like being stuck in the mud and spinning our wheels. Outside of the BSM (Benilde) game, we feel we shouldn't have lost any of our other games.  We just have to find a way to finish games off."

North Branch Scoring

Ryan Norman 3

Justin Novak 6

Jeff Olson 3

Nick Perrin 11

John Lindstrom 2

Jake Chambers 17

Bryce Hunter 7

Eric Sampson 4

Total 53

"But, it's a learning experience. We're looking forward to building off this.  No excuses, but we are just now at full strength and it's like starting the season over.  We are still trying to find our identity.   I really pity the team that gets in the way when we start putting it together," Baumann added.

The Vikings host Columbia Heights at 7:15 Friday, January 12 and Duluth Denfeld at noon Saturday, January 13.

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