Big Bend 6th at SVC tournament

MT. VERNON - With a team comprised of mostly freshmen, the key for the Big Bend Runnin' Vikes to stay competitive this season will be consistency.

Head coach Mark Poth saw both good and poor play from his team at the Skagit Valley College Turkey Tournament. Big Bend finished 1-2, good for sixth place.

The Vikes' lone win came against Tacoma, 80-78.

"We're just really young and inexperienced," Poth said. "Not real consistent, still learning. We just need to continue to get better and better as we progress through preseason in order to get ready for league play."

Big Bend began its tournament run against Blue Angels, a team comprised of former college players.

The Runnin' Vikes were competitive throughout the game and trailed by 10 points with 5 minutes to go until the Blue Angels went on a run to win 97-76.

Big Bend rebounded with a narrow win over Tacoma.

Donavin Wright and Mogga Lado led the Vikes with 26 and 22 points, respectively.

Wright also pulled down a team-high 8 rebounds.

"Donavin was penetrating well, was able to get to the rim," Poth said. "Mogga was doing a good job around the bucket scoring for us. Both of those guys have pretty solid games. We just have to get better in a lot of other areas."

Big Bend ended the tournament Sunday against East region rival Wenatchee Valley. The physical Knights edged the Vikes, 72-67, to take fourth place.

"Blue Mountain was over there too," Poth said. "Both of them have good solid teams this year so it looks like the eastern region's really going to be a battle."