Orcas Vikings triumph back to back

On Friday the Orcas Vikings won 58-54 against Shoreline in overtime, and the next day beat Mt. Vernon Christian 57-48 at home on Orcas.

“We won it in overtime at Shoreline 58-54; Taylor Diepenbrock scored a lay up with one second left in the fourth quarter to tie the game and then we just outscored them 9-4 in overtime,” commented Coach Joe Duenn. “We concentrated on blocking their main scorer defensively. He had scored 32 points on us the last time we played this team, so we knew he was a big threat. We did a good job in the fourth quarter of shutting him down and the guys kept it completely away from him in overtime. We didn’t do a good job at the free throw line earlier, but we kept at the field goal and came out on top.”

Seadrick Wooding scored a whopping 25 points on Friday while Tyler Nigretto put in ten points and Taylor Shaw scored ten points as well. Other team members who turned up the defensive heat were Doherty, Jeff Blankenship, and Henry Broudoue.

“They came in and played great defense against the main players. Everyone did a great job of keeping the flow going. Blankenship came in and changed the momentum when one guy wasn’t firing on all cylinders, and Broudeau had a great steal against Mt. Vernon Christian, so all the guys are shouldering the burden and putting in great energy. We have a very deep bench and everyone is talking the entire game, so it’s been great. If all the guys can score, then it makes it much harder for the other team to shut us down on a one on one basis. We have lots of different guys scoring and playing unselfish basketball.”

The Vikings won again the next day against Mt. Vernon Christian, 57-48.

“We came out with a good start 20-7 in the first quarter. We’ve had trouble getting ahead in the first quarter historically but the last few games we’ve done a lot better. We’re doing a good job of getting things rolling in the first quarter as that’s been weak.”

Taylor Shaw had 16 points and ten rebounds, Daniel Jansen had eight rebounds and six points in the second quarter. Tyler Liedecker fought for the rebounds inside and outside the key and Doherty did a great job at defense. Alan Coe, Jeff Blankenship and Broudoue all had time under the basket and caused many turnovers.

“I was pleased. I’ve known all along that they had the skills and the confidence to outscore the teams in our league and they did just that on Friday and Saturday,” said Coach Duenn.

The Vikings played at Darrington Tuesday, Feb. 4 and will play Thursday at Concrete in an away game, and on Saturday the Vikings play Darrington again at home at Orcas High School.

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