Big Bend starts strong, hold on for vital win

SPOKANE — A seven-game winning streak now gone, the Big Bend Community College Vikings went into their game at the College of Spokane Wednesday night with one ideal in mind.

Start another one.

Behind a strong first half performance and a solid ball handling performance, the fourth-ranked Vikings left Spokane 92-87 winners and with what boils down to a two-game lead in the Northwest Athletic Association of Community Colleges (NWAACC) East Division.

The Vikings (12-4, 7-1) defeated sixth-ranked Spokane (16-4, 6-2) 96-92 on Jan. 9 in Moses Lake and due to the sweep hold a one-game lead in the standings, plus the tiebreaker edge, thus leaving the Sasquatch essentially two games out of the East’s top spot.

“We feel very pleased with the overall effort of the team on both ends of the court,” Big Bend coach Mark Poth said. “Spokane was the hottest team in the league with a six-game winning streak and we knew we were going to have to have a special performance to beat them at their place.”

How’s this for special?

• 49 percent shooting from the field in a hostile gym.

• 39 percent shooting from the three-point line.

• Committing only nine turnovers in a fast-paced game with more than the normal game average in possessions.

• Having five scorers in double figures.

The Vikings took the first half lead by holding their hosts to 39 percent shooting while going 51 percent from the field themselves.

In the second half, an expected run by the Sasquatch was held off by Big Bend who shot 14-for-15 from the free-throw line over the last 20 minutes and 94 percent for the game.

“Many of which came late in the game with the score close,” Poth said.

Spokane did outrebound Big Bend 44-38 which helped give them a shot at mounting a comeback but they didn’t have enough time to finish it off.

The Vikings were led by Dominick Brumfield’s 22 points and eight rebounds while Jeff Ranstrom added 14 points and eight rebounds.

Other Big Bend double-figure scorers were Alan Marsh (12 points), Antonio Snow (11 points), and Maurice Johns (10 points).

“We did a great job with our pressure defense and we only had nine turnovers for the game,” Poth said. “We had a solid performance from our starters and our bench did a great job of coming in and giving us a boost.  Maurice and Antonio came of the bench and gave us 21 points and six steals combined.”

Spokane was led by Chris Pynch’s 25 points.

Big Bend returns home Saturday to take on Yakima Community College (11-9, 5-3) at 4 p.m.

The Vikings stole a 102-99 win in Yakima when the two teams met the first time on Jan. 13.