Vikings offense explodes in rout over Riceville

Published 12:53 am Wednesday, February 3, 2010

Northwood-Kensett boys’ basketball head coach Marty Cotter didn’t know if senior Jacob Gordon might hit the court this season, but since Gordon’s addition the Vikings season has started to turn around lately.

Gordon missed the start of the season because of a football injury but led Northwood-Kensett with 20 points Tuesday in a 79-60 romp of Riceville in Northwood.

Gordon, who has a broken bone in his wrist, returned Jan. 14, a game after a 48-39 loss to the Wildcats in Riceville and Tuesday Gordon hit 10 of 15 shots from the field and had a double-double with 11 rebounds to help lead the Vikings (5-13) to their second consecutive victory after they started the season 0-5.

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Jayson Olson didn’t play in the Riceville loss either but scored 19 points Tuesday as the Vikings broke the Wildcats press continually for easy layups.

Riceville kept the press on throughout the game and tried to comeback from a 38-17 halftime deficit by launching 3-pointers in the second half. The Wildcats made nine in the game and cut the Northwood-Kensett lead to 12 at one point before Olson and Gordon combined to score eight consecutive points.

“I told them you’re going to give up those little spurts to them,” Cotter said. “You got to be able to weather the storm and get a few runs of our own and we were able to do that.”

The Vikings entered the game averaging 46.4 points per game and nearly doubled that average. Northwood-Kensett increased its scoring output by breaking the press and getting shots in the paint, which after the first half Cotter told his team it needed to get more shots from the paint.

“Almost all our shots were in the paint, other than our 3-point attempts,” Cotter said. “I told the kids at halftime, ‘We’re 1 for 9 from 3-point … let’s get to the basket. We’re able to get to the basket, let’s keep getting there.'”

The Vikings kept Riceville at bay with strong defensive rebounding. Sam Arnold led the team with 15 rebounds and Gordon grabbed 11 as Northwood-Kensett limited the Wildcats to one shot for much of the game.

The Vikings play CAL Thursday on the road.

Northwood-Kensett 79, Riceville 60

Riceville 12 5 16 27 — 60

Northwood-Kensett 16 22 13 28 — 79

Riceville scoring: Casey Anderlik 26, Dylan Mayer 11, Dalton Berentsen 7, Michael Theis 5, Wyatt Lee 4, Sal Gomez 4, Bryce Brincks 3.

Northwood-Kensett scoring: Jacob Gordon 20, Jayson Olson 19, Sam Arnold 15, Christian Burnes 9, Derek Varner 9, Brady Cotter 5, Garrett Olson 2.