Vikings split week against EM, SP

MALVERN — The Stanton Vikings lost Friday night 55-34 to the East Mills Wolverines in Corner Conference boys’ basketball action.

Stanton trailed by four at halftime, but the Wolverines were able to extend their lead by an additional 12 points in the third quarter.

East Mills’ Daniel Duysen scored a game-high 20 points on 8-for-10 shooting, including 4-for-5 from three-point range.

Stanton had two players finish with double-digit points. Greg Focht led the way with 13 points on 5-for-11 shooting, while Jeff Marshall recorded 12 points and was 4-for-5 from the free throw line. Focht was two rebounds shy of a double-double.

Last Tuesday, Stanton held off a late rally by South Page to win 44-39 at home.

“South Page is kind of having a similar season to us, they kind of struggled in the win column lately, but they compete real well with everybody so we knew we would have a tough game. We knew we would have to play well,” Stanton Head Coach Steve Bruning said.

Focht scored 15 points to lead the Vikings in the win.

Marshall had 10 points and 10 rebounds (six offensive) to get the double-double. Marshall wasn’t alone as Austin Becthold had 11 points and 10 rebounds to also finish the game with a double-double.

The Vikings now have a 7-8 record for the season. They play the Blue Jays Tuesday night in Villisca.  Stanton won the previous meeting between the two teams on Dec. 13, 60-46.

Friday night, Stanton will be home as the Essex Trojans come to town, as part of a varsity doubleheader. Stanton will go for the regular season sweep against the Trojans, who they previously beat 48-38 on Dec. 16.