The Friday Harbor Wolverines crawled out of their burrow and showed up at the Vikings’ court itching for a tooth and nail brawl, and they found it.

The Viking boys jumped right into the fray, driving down-court to ring the Wolverines’ bell for two points. Friday Harbor answered right back with a flawless three-pointer from the top of the key, and the race was on. The Wolverines put in a layup, then a free throw. The Vikes swiped a Wolverine pass for a beautiful hit and run bucket, and Friday Harbor responded three seconds later, finishing first quarter with a score of 8 to 12.

By half-time the Wolverines had only increased their small lead to eight points, and the Vikings made them fight for every inch of it.

“In the first half we played really good defense,” said coach Gregg Sasan. “The starting five did really well, played really intense defense on them. But in the 3rd quarter they made some adjustments, put their big guy inside, and we had a tough time stopping him.”

In the third quarter the Wolverines pulled ahead, finishing the game off with 21 second-half points, 43 to 59. Tyler Nigretto led the scoring with 15 points and contributed many quick drives to the Wolverines’ basket. Henri Bredouw, Taylor Diepenbrock and Jacob Hansen also contributed.

“I ask them to try their hardest, and they did,” added Sasan. “We played really hard.”