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The Vikings continued to play good defense, but couldn't score enough points in a pair of conference losses the last week of January. January 29 NB held a four-point first-half lead before losing 56-45 at St. Louis Park. January 31 the Vikings were defeated 48-40 at Fridley.

Against SLP the Vikings fell behind 5-0 before Dan Ginal, Bryce Hunter and Jake Chambers scored, giving the Vikings a 7-5 advantage with 11:29 left in the half. The Orioles came back with a 9-2 run that gave them a 14-9 lead midway through the period.

Then John Lindstrom and Ryan Norman hit back-to-back threes to help NB retake the lead. With 7:07 remaining, the Vikings led 15-14. After an Oriole hoop, Ginal hit his second from behind the arc and Hunter made a freethrow to give NB a 19-16 lead with six minutes left.

Baskets were hard to come by in the final minutes. But, Chambers' freethrow and Norman's two kept the Vikings in the lead. And, Hunter gave NB a boost going into halftime. With one second on the clock, his putback gave the Vikings a 24-20 lead at the break.

North Branch extended its lead in the first four minutes of the new half. Chambers scored the first five points and, after an SLP basket, Lindstrom drained his second three of the contest. The fast start gave the Vikings a 32-22 lead. Four minutes later, Lindstrom's third three and a shot from the paint by Eric Sampson helped NB stay in the lead. With 9:47 left, the Vikings led 39-30.

That's when things started to fall apart. In the next six minutes, Park outscored the visitors 16 to one. With 3:40 left, the 10 point lead had been transformed into a six point deficit. The Vikings were forced to foul to stop the clock in the last minutes. But, the Orioles scored eight of their final 10 points from the freethrow line to pull away for an 11 point NSC win.

"We played 30 outstanding minutes of basketball, but just didn't finish off the last six," said Viking head coach Bill Baumann. "We held a 10-point lead with about nine minutes left, but only scored three points to finish off."

GAME SUMMARY

North Branch 24 21 45

St. Louis Park 20 36 56

Viking Scoring

Ryan Norman 5

John Lindstrom 10

Dan Ginal 6

Jake Chambers 13

Deon Farr 2

Bryce Hunter 7

Eric Sampson 2

Total 45

North Branch at Fridley

The Vikings limited Fridley to two points in the first seven minutes. Meanwhile, Ryan Norman hit a pair of freethrows and John Lindstrom dropped a three, giving the Vikings an early 7-2 advantage.

However, in the next five minutes, Fridley came storming back with with a 12-0 run to take a 14-7 lead. Lindstrom hit another three, Eric Sampson scored from inside and Bryce Hunter made two field goals to tie the game. At 2:13, it was 16-16.

In the final minutes of the half, the Tigers hit a three and a freethrow while Lindstrom's freethrow was the only NB tally. That put Fridley up 20-17 at the half.

In the second session, the Tigers outscored the visitors 9-4 in the first six minutes. Trailing 29-21, Jake Chambers score twice and added a freethrow and Deon Farr hit a three. In a five minute span, NB closed the gap to three. With 7:13 left, the Vikings were behind 32-29.

But, the Vikings never got any closer. Fridley rebuilt its lead to 10 on three occasions before completing an eight-point win.

"Again, we played great defense," Baumann commented. "We wanted to take away their outstanding perimeter player and cut down their penetration. We did that, but we are having trouble putting the ball in the basket."

GAME SUMMARY

North Branch 17 23 40

St. Louis Park 20 28 48

Viking Scoring

Ryan Norman 4

John Lindstrom 10

Jake Chambers 9

Deon Farr 5

Bryce Hunter 4

Eric Sampson 2

Kirk Dahle 2

Kyle Grote 4

Total 40

Baumann added, "We had two really hard-fought games on the road on Tuesday and Thursday. The kids are really taking the defensive game plan and executing it to perfection. I think we are in the top ten in the state in fewest points allowed, but we may be in the bottom ten in points scored.

"Part of our problem is that we are not ready to shoot and we are relying too much on just a couple of our players. Everybody needs to step up. We are playing tight on the offensive end. We need to relax and hit a couple of shots. Shooting is a lot about confidence and we have to be confident in our shooting. I've seen us shoot the ball well in practice. Now we just have to carry it over to the game. If we can fine tune our offense with the way our defense is playing, we could be pretty dangerous at tournament time," Baumann concluded.

The Vikings play at St. Francis Friday, February 8 before hosting Totino Grace Tuesday, February 12. Both North Suburban Conference games are scheduled for 7:15 starts.

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