Runnin' Vikes Snap 5 Game Skid

Hoping to snap a 5 game skid, the Runnin' Vikes hit the road for their second straight game and headed to Pendleton, OR to battle it out against the Timberwolves of Blue Mountain Community College. 

The first half was an offensive clinic put on by both the visiting Vikings and the home team. Both teams shooting above 50% from the floor while shooting nearly 40% from beyond the arc made this much watch basketball. Samari Barnwell led the Vikings offense dropping 9 points in 10 minutes off the bench with all 9 coming via the three ball. LJ Ginnis made his mark on the first half collecting 5 assists and 4 steals while leading the Vikings with 3 rebounds. Even with everything seeming to go right for the Vikes, BBCC entered the break trailing 35-33.

The second half was the complete opposite as the first as both defenses appeared to take over with BBCC shooting 41% from the floor and BMCC shooting 36%. Gil Gonzalez popped off in the second half scoring 13 points on 6-7 shooting leading the comeback. With a true back and forth battle this game required overtime being knotted up at 63 after 40 minutes.

Overtime was all Big Bend with LJ Ginnis scoring 6 points in the extra frame while holding the Timberwolves to 1 of 6 shooting snapping their five game losing streak with a 75-67 overtime win. Gil Gonzalez led the Vikes with 20 points on 8-10 shooting while LJ Ginnis approached a triple double with 16 points, 8 assists and 7 rebounds in the Vikings victory. Head Coach Jason Hopkins had this to say regarding the win.

"We really battled in this game, I thought the guys were really resilient. We found out right before the game that our starting big guy didn't feel well enough to play which was a big blow against a team with Blue Mountain's size. The guys had a great next man up mentality. LJ Ginnis really came to play with a 16/7/8/5 performance that catapulted us to a big O.T. victory. Part of turning a program around is teaching young players how to and what it takes to win and games likes these are helpful in that process."

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