Orcas boys’ basketball: Darrington eludes Vikings
Published 3:17 pm Saturday, January 14, 2012
Viking fans packed the gym for the boys’ Jan. 13 game against the Darrington Loggers. Despite a tough fight, Orcas saw victory slip away during the final minutes of the game, for a score of 52-47.
The teams aggressively edged each other throughout; at half the score was 18-21. The Vikings turned the tables to push ahead by a nose in the third quarter, thanks to three consecutive baskets by Jake Zier followed by a quick drive and score by Devon Stanzione. The Darrington coach quickly called a timeout to break up the accelerating Viking momentum, ending the scoring run.
Orcas started the final quarter at 33-30.
Zier powered through a crowd to sink a jumper under the basket, drawing first blood, but Darrington replied by hauling in a missed Viking shot attempt and sprinting down to score, adding a free throw to the board as well: 35-33.
An Orcas three-pointer got the crowd cheering itself hoarse, but the Loggers relentlessly pounded in shots to pull ahead, 38-40.
With four minutes to go, the Darrington cheer squad let loose cries of “Logger power!” The Loggers took advantage of missed Viking shots to take possession of the game, and even a smooth three-pointer by Jack Gates at 13 seconds couldn’t quite pull off the win.
The boys drove hard until the very end; as the final buzzer sounded, one last Viking three-point attempt rang off the rim, a near miss.
