Corner Tourney: Vikings take third
TABOR —In recent years, it has been the Stanton Viqueens who have brought home hardware from the Corner Conference basketball tournament. This year is much different.
The Vikings clinched third in the annual basketball tournament when they held off a late rally by Clarinda Academy to get the 68-62 win Saturday night at Fremont-Mills High School.
“We took a big step forward this week,” Stanton boys basketball co-coach Kevin Blunt said. “We had some good practices this week and we kind of came together a little bit and came out of the week with a little bit of momentum.”
It was a rough first half for the Vikings as they trailed for its entirety.
The first quarter was close, but the Eagles refused to give up the lead.
Stanton found itself down late when David Sorensen sank a three-pointer at the buzzer to cut the lead to two as the Vikings trailed 15-13.
It didn’t get much better for Stanton as Clarinda Academy pulled ahead and at one point led 32-22 with 2:06 to go until halftime.
Stanton clawed its way back though as Sorensen added another buzzer-beating three- pointer as the Vikings went into halftime trailing 36-34. Blunt thought the three by Sorensen was a momentum changer.
“We were able to pick up our intensity a little bit on both ends of the floor at the end of the second quarter and hit a few shots,” Blunt said. “David hit the big shot to go into halftime with a lot of momentum.”
Stanton used the late first half run to jump out to a lead at the beginning of the second half. The Vikings went on an 8-0 run in the first 1:50 to take a 42-36 lead.
Clarinda Academy added a three-pointer to cut the lead in half, but Brady Johnson went to the basket to score a two as the Vikings went back up 44-39.
Johnson, Sorensen, Kyle Peterson and Hultman continued to add on the points as the Stanton’s lead ballooned even further. A 23-point third quarter led to Stanton taking a 57-42 lead entering the final quarter.
“Our defense was giving our offense a little bit of a chance and we were getting a few easy baskets because they were getting frustrated about hitting some baskets,” Blunt said. “Our intensity on the defensive end came back and helped us on the offensive end. We took advantage of some open shots inside and passed the ball well and that sure helped.”
The Eagles made a run late in the game and tried to close the gap, but it wouldn’t be enough as Stanton held on to get the win.
It’s the second time in recent weeks that Stanton has defeated Clarinda Academy.
Stanton previously defeated Clarinda Academy 73-70 on Jan. 13.
The Vikings found themselves in the consolation game following a 62-48 semifinal loss to the eventual champions, Fremont-Mills.
Stanton kept close, but Fremont-Mills was able to pull away.
Stanton reached the semifinals with a win last Tuesday at home in the quarterfinals over Nishnabotna 57-39. Peterson led with 18 points, while Hultman had 14.
The season keeps going for Stanton as they play three big games this week. It all starts Tuesday night when they go to Malvern for a rematch against East Mills.
The Wolverines scored the 38-33 win over Stanton in the first meeting Dec. 19.
That will be part of a varsity doubleheader with the girls’ game starting at 6 p.m.
Thursday night it will be Stanton back home again as they host Essex. The boys game is scheduled for a 7:30 p.m. start.
Stanton wraps up the week Friday night when they return to Tabor for another shot at Fremont-Mills.
“You like to win every game you get the chance to, and we sure like going into next week, a tough week, with a win,” Blunt said.