Third ranked Vikings win a pair of tough road games

by Peter Jakey, Managing Editor

The Vikings kept their undefeated season alive with a couple of hard-fought wins. The boys overcame a seven-point deficit Tuesday at Au Gres and triumphed in a physical contest last Friday at Mio. The boys are ranked third in the Associated Press Class D polls with a 12-0 record, which includes eight straight conference wins. The Vikings knocked off Au Gres Tuesday, 60-48, behind David Kerr?s career-high 27 points.

As head coach Steve Hentkowski has said since the beginning of the season, opposing defenses may be able to slow one or two weapons, but they won?t be able to stop them all. Hentkowski switched to a man-to-man defense in the second half to slow the host Wolverines, while Kerr started pouring in the points. ?WE WERE playing a zone most of the first half,? said Hentkowski. ?They were getting a lot of the shots to fall, and they were getting some second chance opportunities off rebounds.?

Posen outscored Au Gres 20-4 in the third quarter. Kerr put in 13 of them. He also had eight rebounds. Jerome Ciarkowski had 15 points and eight rebounds. Nathan Lenard stepped up with solid play, providing tough defense and dishing out four assists in the third. ?Tyler Kuffel grabbed eight rebounds,? said Hentkowski. ?He did a really good job on one of their big guys of keeping him off the board in the second half.? Shane Hentkowski had eight points, five assists, four steals and five rebounds. As a team, they had 19 assists. ?This just says something about this team.? THE MIO game provided a playoff-type atmosphere in a 47-36 win. ?I?m proud of my guys, the way they dug in in the second half, especially

on defense,? the coach said. The depth of talent showed through as the coach had to tinker with his line up because there were some players in foul trouble.

?When you come to Mio, you have to expect one heck of a battle,? said Hentkowski. ?Hats off to Mio, they played hard, but our experience showed through. We showed we can play a half court game.? Ciarkowski finished with 16, including a late baseline drive between two defenders, which proved to be a back breaker. Kerr added 16. The boys were 13-of-20 from the free throw line. Hentkowski is now 10-1 against Mio. The boys host Fairview tomorrow.

THE JUNIOR varsity (6-5, 3-4) lost to Mio, 58-46. Lucas Litwinski had 25 points and nine steals. Martin Mulka had nine assists. Brandon Dietz had 10 points and nine rebounds. On Jan. 13, Posen defeated Hillman 52-45. Litwinski had 19 and Dietz had 17.

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