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The North Branch boys suffered two North Suburban Conference basketball defeats the week before Christmas. Tuesday, December 18, seventh-rated Benilde-St. Margaret's beat the Vikings 73-49. Friday, December 21, NB lost to St. Francis 65-58 at North Branch.

North Branch at Benilde

The Red Knights broke out to a 12-0 lead in the first four minutes of the game. "We were really tentative from the start and Benilde was really aggressive," said North Branch head coach Bill Baumann. "Benilde is a good team and, if you give them any type of an edge, they will take advantage and make you pay."

Kyle Grote connected on a three pointer for the first Viking points at the 14 minute mark. Kirk Dahle hit another three to make it 12-6 less than a minute later. Benilde retaliated with an eight-point run that was punctuated with a dunk. It was 20-6, in Benilde's favor, with 10:43 left in the half.

Eric Sampson, assisted by John Lindstrom, made a layup at 10:07 to stop the run. The senior followed that with another inside two pointer 30 seconds later and it was 23-10. However, Benilde outscored the Vikings 22-5 from that point, making the BSM lead 45-18 at the break.

Sampson scored the first two Viking hoops of the second half, making it 48-22 with 15 minutes left. But, Benilde outscored the Vikings 16-7 over the next six minutes and, midway through the second half, Benilde held a 35-point, 64-29 lead.

The scoring of Ryan Norman, Sampson and Grote helped the Vikings narrow the gap by going on a 15-0 run over the next five minutes. But, they never got closer than 20 points (64-44) and Benilde cruised to a 24-point win.

"We played much better the second half. Eric Sampson really accepted the challenge and was really aggressive," Baumann added. "We need more players to follow his lead and take the game to the opposition. I'm hoping that we take that attitude over into our future games."

SCORING SUMMARY

Benilde-SM 45 28 73

North Branch 18 31 49

North Branch Scoring

Ryan Norman 8

Kyle Grote 11

John Lindstrom 2

Dan Ginal 1

Kirk Dahle 6

Mike Dahl 3

Eric Sampson 16

Aaron Good 2

Total 49

St. Francis at North Branch

At home, the Vikings fell behind early and fought back to take a lead in the middle of the first half. The Saints came back to take a 17 point advantage in the second half and survived a furious Viking comeback to win a closely-contested game.

Once again, the Vikings failed to score in the first four minutes and sophomore guard Kyle Grote's three provided the first Viking points. St. Francis expanded its lead to 10-3 before John Lindstrom, Mike Dahl, Eric Sampson and Grote scored in a two-minute, 9-0 run that gave the Vikings a 12-10 lead with 11:29 left in the half.

The teams juggled the lead for the next four minutes and, with 7:11 to go, St. Francis led 21-19. The Vikings were outscored 17-9 before the half and they found themselves trailing 38-28 when the horn sounded.

"This was really an up and down game. We came out the second half and played really good defense holding them scoreless for the first eight minutes of the half. Unfortunately, we could only cut the lead to three during that time," Viking coach Bill Baumann said. With 10 minutes left, the Vikes had cut the SF lead to 38-35.

The Saints outscored the home team 16-2, including four three-pointers, over the next four minutes, to take a 54-37 lead with six minutes left. "They then hit some big shots to shoot the lead back out to 17," Baumann commented.

"We rallied back to cut the margin to five (63-58 with 23 seconds left) and basically had some momentum on our side but just didn't have enough time," Baumann continued. "Kyle Grote stepped up and made some big shots down the stretch and really played aggressive. Kirk Dahle has been doing a great job and is getting more and more confidence. It's been good to have Eric Sampson back, as he gives us a 'Rodman like' presence inside, working hard all the time.

"We moved a little closer to what we want to do and we are gaining more and more experience. We just need to get more consistent and pick up a win or two and we just might take off," the coach concluded.

SCORING SUMMARY

St. Francis 38 27 65

North Branch 28 30 58

North Branch Scoring

Ryan Norman 1

Kyle Grote 18

John Lindstrom 12

Dan Ginal 8

Kirk Dahle 2

Mike Dahl 6

Eric Sampson 6

Deon Farr 4

Alex Sundly 1

Total 58

The Vikings return to action tonight (Thursday, January 3) when they go to Totino-Grace for a 7:15 game. They travel to Duluth Denfeld for a 2:30 p.m. tip-off Saturday, January 5 and to Irondale Tuesday, January 8 at 7:15.

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