Big Bend men jet past Fairchild 104-63
Rodney Harwood/Columbia Basin Herald - The Runnin Vikes Christopher Hawkins (2) blows past Fairchild’s Josh Sipos (31) for the basket during first- half action Friday at DeVries Activity Center.
MOSES LAKE — The high flying Runnin’ Vikes hit the century mark for the third time in four games in a runaway victory over Fairchild Air Force Base in the first of the two-game Military Appreciation Games over the Dec. 8-9 weekend at DeVries Activity Center.
Big Bend (4-4) led by 40 points most of the second half and put the Falcons away 104-63.
Mauricio Smith, a 6-foot-5 freshmen out of Las Vegas, finished with 19 points and eight rebounds for Big Bend, who had four of five starters in double figures. Koby Huerta was 3-of-6 from 3-point range and finished with 18 points and eight assists. Blake Dittman, a 6-4 sophomore from Boise, was good for 16 points and eight rebounds.
Miles Brown had a big night in the paint with a game-leading 17 rebounds to go along with 13 points. DeAngelo Stowers came off the bench to add 12 points.
“Tonight was about making sure that we were only giving them one shot and hitting the defensive glass,” first-year Big Bend head coach Mingo Scott said. “This team is based on playing good defense, giving them one shot and getting in position where we can run.
“If we don’t block out and give teams two, three shots, then we’re walking the ball up the floor and we’re not nearly as effective.”
The Runnin’ Vikes are coming off a 106-100 loss to Whatcom at the Bigfoot Classic in Spokane where they gave up an 11-point lead at the half with a poor second-half scoring effort and just 39 points.
Despite the fact Fairchild didn’t have the firepower to hang with the younger team’s running game, Scott wanted to make sure they took care of business and didn’t let up.
“We can’t play that slow-down game. I want our outlet guy to push the ball and look for the guy ahead of him,” he said. “I want, bing, bing, bing, two passes and a layup or a 3. We’re going to hit our best high-percentage shots.”
The Runnin’ Vikes have put up 100 points in three of their last four games. On Friday night, Huerta swung it out to Dittman on the wing off the break and he threw it down for the jam to
punctuate a 10-0 run to make it a 31-point lead with 14:31 remaining.
“Fairchild was definitely stronger guys and a little older, but we used that to our advantage to get out and run on them,” said Dittman, who was 6-of-9 from the floor and 2-of-3 from beyond the arc. “When we make the stop on defense and run the floor, it’s hard to stop us. The games that we’ve lost we had big leads, so we’ve been working on closing out games.”
Big Bend put together another 15-3 run in the final 10 minutes to run the score out to 92-52 as Fairchild ran out of steam down the stretch.
“We struggled against (Whatcom) a team we should have beaten last time out, so we’ve been working on closing things out,” Smith said. “Coach always stresses team defense and I thought we played pretty good defense tonight.”
The Runnin’ Vikes have four sophomores on the roster, so it’s been learning on the fly, scoring on the fly, playing defense on the fly. They moved back to the .500 mark over the weekend with four games left in December. Learning is over, it’s time to hit it hard if they intend qualify for the NWAC tournament, Scott said.
“They’re still a bunch of freshmen. I told them they have a few more days to grow up, because when Jan. 3 happens, we have to be on top of our game,” he said.
Joshua Winters led the Falcons with 14 points and Andre Davis had 10.
Big Bend 105, Fairchild AFB 65
Huerta led the Runnin’ Vikes with 24 points in Saturday’s game and Dittman added 16. Stowers popped for 15 to help the Vikings back to the .500 mark.
The Runnin’ Vikes will play three games at the Tacoma Crossover Tournament, starting on Friday.
Fairchild AFB 36 27 — 63
Big Bend 52 52 — 104
Fairchild: Joshua Winters 14, Treion Davis 1, Derrick Ray 6, Andre Davis 10, Josh Sipos 8, Destry Mays 3, Michael Macy 8, AJ Leak 4, Shawn Fielder 1, Kaleb Fausone 8. Totals: 21-68 15-28 63.
Big Bend: Mauricio Smith 19, Kobe Huerta 18, Christopher Hawkins 7, Blake Dittman 16, Miles Brown 13, Jaden Brown 2, Parker Christensen 8, Nash Austin 4, DeAngelo Stowers 12, John Farais 2, Ben Kuiper 3. Totals: 36-70 16-21 104.