Vikings blow past the competition in Tip Off tournament

Big Bend putting the 'running' back into Vikes

MOSES LAKE — The Big Bend Vikings used a stifling full-court defense and a run-and-gun offense to power their way to the championship of the Eastern Region Tip Off Classic this weekend.

Big Bend opened the tournament with a 118-83 victory over Blue Mountain Community College Friday night, defeated Yakima Valley Community College 118-102 in the semifinals Saturday, and downed Walla Walla Community College 112-94 for the championship Sunday.

The Vikings took on Blue Mountain Community College in the opening round of the tournament, and needed only a few minutes to show the Timberwolves that they were in for a long night. After Blue Mountain took a 9-6 lead at the 17:08 mark, Big Bend went on a 21-4 run to take command of the game. Back-to-back three-pointers by Derek Miller and Daley Landon got the run going, and from there the Viking defense forced the Timberwolves into a series of turnovers and miscues that allowed the home team to build a 27-13 cushion.

Blue Mountain would mount a comeback late in the first half, closing to within seven at 47-40 with 3:22 to play before halftime. The Vikings responded with an 11-2 scoring surge in the next 63 seconds to push their lead back to 16.

From there, the Viking defense once again wreaked havoc on Blue Mountain, blocking a shot that resulted in a jump ball, forcing a traveling call and a three-second violation on the Timberwolves and picking up a steal that Blake Solomon converted into a wide-open three-pointer to put an exclamation point on the half and send the Vikings to the locker room with a 64-42 lead.

In the second half, Blue Mountain would offer little challenge to Big Bend, falling behind by as many as 40 points before a late game run allowed them to close the final margin to 35.

Based on the early season results, it appears the Vikings will be playing a very exciting and fun to watch brand of basketball throughout the season. At least, that is the opinion of Big Bend head coach Mark Poth.

"Our style of play this year is full-court press all game, and we run all the time," said the Viking coach. "People oughta be out watching this kind of basketball."

Not only do the Vikings play tough defense and run the floor with abandon, they're not afraid to pull up from three-point range if they get an open look. Given that the team shot a blistering 51 percent from beyond the arc, they probably shouldn't be afraid to fire away from outside.

"That's kind of our style of play," said Poth. "Most of those three-point shots were good, open shots. You don't see us shooting many 15-foot jump shots."

While the outside game, led by guards Solomon, Miller and Landon, played a crucial role for the Vikings over the weekend, not to be overlooked is the play of center Matt Brunell, who averaged 16 points during the tournament on a remarkable 74 percent shooting from the field.

Even though it is still early in the season and the Vikings have things they need to improve on if they hope to make a deep post-season run, the effort the team gives out on the floor is already in playoff shape.

"We go 100 percent all the time," said Poth of his team.