by Portia White

Orcas High School Student

Boys’ basketball

Orcas fans were on the edge of their seats once again, creating a high energy atmosphere on Jan. 17.

Mount Vernon Christian came to Orcas and the Vikings put up a strong fight to the end. The Vikings had the lead most of the game up until the last five minutes of regulation.

With under one minute left, the Vikings were down by 3 points, with both teams exchanging baskets. Time stopped with .7 seconds left on the clock, when Diego Lago got fouled on the floor. With MVC in double bonus, he went to the free-throw line. Lago made his first of two, bringing the score to a 2-point difference.

MVC called a timeout, and the Vikings drew up a play. Lago went back to the line, intentionally missing his second shot, hoping they would get the put-back. With a battle for the ball, the Vikings got a shot off, but not hard enough, and MVC escaped with the 51-53 win.

The Vikings battled Sultan the following day at home and lost in an extremely tight match, 72-71, and then faced Concrete on Jan. 21, on the road.

Darrington will come to Orcas on Jan. 24 for another tough match-up at 6 p.m.

Girls’ basketball

After their victory against Friday Harbor, the Lady Vikings turned around the next day facing Evergreen Lutheran, for another home battle on Jan. 11. The team took the energy from the night before and brought it back onto the court, resulting in a 41-19 win.

After four snow days and a game cancellation on Jan. 14 against La Conner, MVC came to Orcas on Jan. 17. The Lady Vikings started the game off strong against the current first place team in the league, with a lead early on, but fell short in the end. The final score was 34-50 in MVC’s favor.

On Jan. 18 the team faced Sultan at home, for another non-league match-up, beating the team 48-44. They then went to Concrete on Jan. 21 to face them for the first time this season.

Orcas will be hosting Darrington on Jan. 24 at 4:30 p.m. and head off to Evergreen Lutheran the following day.