Vikings men hoops sweep NWAACC homestand

MOSES LAKE - They have battled injuries and a season-long war of attrition.

Yet, one thing many must remember: This is still the Big Bend Vikings basketball program, one decorated with years of success.

So despite the pitfalls of the 2010-11 season, head coach Mark Poth still has a team to reckon with and this weekend was no exception.

Using both sides of the hoops spectrum, the Vikings swept their two games this weekend at Peter DeVries Activity Center, winning Friday 62-47 over Blue Mountain CC behind a strong defensive effort, only to follow that up the next day with a 101-80 rout of Treasure Valley CC as Big Bend hit 15 three-pointers.

Big Bend (12-4, 4-1) are now tied for first place in the Northwest Athletic Association of Community Colleges (NWAACC) East Division.

"We feel good about coming out of the weekend with two wins and a tie for first place in the region," Poth said. "Having John Buhler out with a fracture rib was a big concern going into this weekend games.  Our team has been resilient with the numerous injuries we have dealt with this season, but the players continue to stay focused."

Against Blue Mountain (3-12, 2-3), the Vikings struggled from the field all night long, hitting only 29 percent of their shots while hitting only six-of-24 of their three-pointers.

But their defensive effort more than trumped their lack of quality shooting as they forced 17 turnovers, held their guests to 33 percent shooting while not allowing a single trey to be hit from the field, and they outrebounded Blue Mountain 59-51.

Hayes Garrity led the Vikings with 19 points, three rebounds, and three assists, Spencer Pingel added 12 points and 11 rebounds, and Blake Skidmore finished with 12 points and six rebounds.

Not to be outdone, Viking Ben Olayinka ended his night with nine points and a Kevin Love-like 22 rebounds.

The Vikings' dominance on the glass helped them to a 23-8 advantage on second chance points.

On Saturday, Big Bend found its shooting touch in their rout of Treasure Valley (4-10, 0-5).

"I felt Saturday we came out and played one of our best games of the year against TVCC," Poth said. "Hopefully we can continue to improve as we go forward."

Big Bend led 58-30 at halftime and coasted from there.

The highlight of the evening came by virtue of Garrity.

The freshman finished with 35 points, including five three-pointers, while also finishing with 14 assists against an incredibly low total of one turnover.

"It was great to see Hayes come out and play an incredible game at the point guard position," Poth said. "He made good decisions with the ball and his assists to turnover ratio of 14-1,  is one of the top performances I have seen at Big Bend."

It didn't hurt Garrity's cause to see his teammates help lead the way to a team 52 percent shooting from the field.

Skidmore ended up with 21 point, Spencer Pingel added 18 points and seven rebounds while hitting six three-pointers, Brandon Brooke tallied 14 points and nine rebounds, and Olayinka fashioned a solid 10 point, nine rebound performance.

On Wednesday the Vikings travel to play Columbia Basin College in NWAACC play.