The Victor Pirates came out strong against the Darby Tigers and came away with a 71-57 win. But the game was closer than the score indicated with Darby never giving up and Victor hitting a slump in the second quarter.
“Darby’s the type of team that just keeps playing hard no matter what the score is,” said Victor coach, Drew Lewis. “By no means are they (Darby) a bad team. I think they will definitely be one of the teams to knock on the door to get out of districts.”
Victor outscored Darby by 10 in the first quarter and then poured on the points in the third quarter. Lewis said he likes to let his team shoot and keep attacking the basket. With players like Corey Deering and Kyle Ball who can slice to the basket or hit from outside, the defense has to spread out to cover the players. Matt Kittel also is a threat and hit five treys on Thursday against the Tigers.
Darby coach Scott Marsh said he was happy that his team didn’t quit and kept battling in the game. Darby was missing a couple of players and only played six players.
“When you play an up and down game like that with six kids, they were tired,” he concluded. “A couple of those kids didn’t come off for more than 30 seconds so to have such a good fourth quarter was great.”
Marsh was pleased that his team handled the press Victor put on them early in the game and said that breaking that was one of their goals for the game. On the other side of the ball, Lewis was pleased with his team’s rebounding; especially Randy Lewis who has been averaging over 10 boards a game.
Victor 71, Darby 57
Darby– Ryan McCrossin 7, Wyatt Doyle 8, Garrett McCormack 1, Joe Caicedo 23, Matt Robbins 6, Storm Wanstrath 12.
Victor – Nate Bishop 4, Kyle Ball 29, Corey Deering 12, Matt Kittel 16, Michael O’Leary 2, Randy Miller 8.
Lewis was correct in his assessment Thursday night about the Pirate’s game against Drummond on Friday. He said ‘it’s going to be a dog fight,’ and it was. The two teams battled back and forth throughout the game with Victor having a three point lead at the end of the first half and a two point lead at the end of three periods. But Drummond came back in the final stanza and won, 51-48. Ball had 21 points to lead the Pirates.
Drummond 51, Victor 48
Victor – Cavill 6, Ball 21, Deering 3, Kittel 7, Miller 11.
Drummond – Bignell 34, Manley 3, Oberweiser 2, Mannix 5, Gill 1, Parke 6.
The Pirates had one final game on Saturday, a non-conference game against Charlo in Charlo. The Pirates’ legs were tired and they struggled offensively. Ball let the scoring for the Pirates with 28 points. Victor is still in second place in District 13C with a 7-2 record and are 9-3 overall.
Charlo 54, Victor 45
Victor –Cavill 1, Bishop 4, Ball 28, Deering 2, Kittel 7, Miller 3.
Charlo – Delaney 4, O’Neill 27, Pope 7, Santee 6, Delaney 10.
Darby traveled to Lincoln on Friday night for another 13C match up. The Tigers came out strong and took a three-point lead into the second quarter. Then they stepped up the defense and held the Lynx to only five points. Darby went on to win, 54-47. Storm Wanstrath had 17 points to pace the Tigers.
Darby 54, Lincoln 47
Darby– McCrossin 8, Doyle 9, McCormack 3, Druex Kuntz 2, Caicedo 11, Robbins 4, Wanstrath 17.
Lincoln – Jorgenson 11, Menard 5, Williams 8, White 4, Jorgenson 3, Nelson 8, Eisenzimer 6, Erickson 2
Florence put themselves back in the winning column with a 60-28 drubbing of Thompson Falls on Thursday. The Falcons came out firing and never looked back in the non-conference game. Aaron Ward had 24 points and Rhett Baerlocher added 10. The Falcons are now at 4-0 in conference and 9-1in overall play.
Florence 60, Thompson Falls 28
Thompson Falls – Senaeve 2, Dalby 6, Knutson 3, Batesl 5, Hoisington 5, Lawes 6 Vaught 1.
Florence – Ryno Baerlocher 4, Rhett Baerlocher 10, Aaron Ward 24, Mike Finlay 8, Chantz Hotzsinpiller 2, Ryan Mangun 7, Bradley Schaff 5.