Spartans erase 15-point deficit in second half
LITTLEFORK — As Nashwauk-Keewatin kept crawling back in the second half Tuesday, Littlefork-Big Falls looked more and more uncertain as the pressure mounted.
“Very frustrating,” Vikings head coach Jeff Maish said.
The Spartans (4-7), who didn’t score for the first six minutes of the second half, erased a 15-point deficit against the Vikings (2-4) to pull off a 56-52 victory.
“We were fortunate we came back,” Nashwauk-Keewatin head coach Ray Tomberlin said. “I was pretty upset at our first-half play.”
Josh Engel led the Spartans with 21 points, including 13 in the second half. Jordan Peratalo had 12 points, C.J. Wyatt, who played the entire second half with four fouls, added 11 points and A.J. Emanuel had 10 points.
Garrett Larson had his usual monster performance for the Vikings, posting 26 points, but only nine came in the second half. He fouled out with just over 11 seconds to play. Tyler Lehman was the only other Viking in double figures with 12, while Tyler Vork had seven points.
The Vikings set the tempo in the first half, building a 31-25 lead. Tomberlin, who admitted his team had a poor practice Monday, knew his team was outplayed.
“In the first half, they did our style to us,” he said.
The Spartans came out even flatter in the second half, going over six minutes without a basket. The Vikings led 40-25 by the time Engel recorded the Spartans’ first points in the second half with 11:40 to play.
That’s when things started unraveling for the Vikings, who played well early in the game — they led 9-0 — and early in the second half when building the 15-point lead.
“And the wheels fell off,” Maish said. “We stopped playing unselfish. We stopped playing smart. We quit playing basketball in general.”
An 11-point Vikings lead with just over eight minutes to play was whittled down to nothing when a basket by Engel made it 50-50 with 2:35 remaining. The Spartans’ pressure was too much for the Vikings, who scored only six points over the final 8:06.
“We didn’t know what to do,” Maish said about his team’s lack of execution dealing with the pressure.
Emanuel made it 52-50 with 2:15 to play and Wyatt’s two free throws made it 54-50 with 46.3 seconds left. Larson followed his miss with a basket to make it 54-52, and after Emanuel missed two free throws, Taylor DeLack’s long jumper bounced off the rim. Larson fouled out after Wyatt grabbed the rebound.
The Vikings had a chance to tie after Wyatt made 1 of 2, but Lehman’s 3-pointer bounced off the backboard. Peratalo sealed it by putting the Spartans up 56-52 with a free throw with 1.4 seconds left.
Game notes
• Maish thought his team settled for too many outside shots, and referred to the 17 free throw attempts as proof. Besides the blowout loss to Chisholm, the Vikings have attempted 31, 35, 36 and 27 free throws in their other four games. They finished 10-for-17 on Tuesday, while the Spartans shot 10-for-25.
• Tomberlin was impressed by Larson. “No. 5 is as good of a player as we’ve seen,” he said, noting they tried making it as hard as possible for Larson to score with under five minutes to play.
Friday’s results
L-BF 59, MI-B 52
Larson posted a huge double-double with 26 points and 24 rebounds to lead the Vikings to the 59-52 road win.
Lehman added 10 points and six assists, Aaron McGuire had 10 points and Vork swiped four steals.
Deven Rowe led the Rangers (0-10) with 19 points, while Brian Thielen had 16 points.
