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PITTSBURG —
The Northeast Vikings did much of what they wanted this year. But Saturday night in the substate final against Madison/Hamilton, Northeast was unable to do enough to get a win, losing 59-42.
“Things just didn’t go our way tonight. We ran into a pretty darn good team. Those things happen once in a while,” said Northeast boys coach Matt Hiatt.
The first half was not kind to the Vikings, as the Bulldogs jumped out to a 23-11 lead at halftime. Hiatt said the Vikings were a deadly mix of not hitting shots and sometimes taking bad shots that worked against them in the first half.
“I thought Madison/Hamilton did a good job of pressing the ball against us. They were in a full-court press all night,” Hiatt said. “I don’t think it was the pressure in the front court that bothered us, but the pressure in the back court. They jumped passing lanes, or started pressing the ball. We only had three points in the second quarter, and I think that was part us missing good shots, and part us taking some rushed shots.”
In the second half, Northeast started to scramble back into the game. Unfortunately, that woke the sleeping dragon that was Bullodg forward Kole Schankie. Schankie only had two points in the first half, but ended with 22.
“He’s a forward, but he hit two threes,” Hiatt said. “He did most of his damage on penetration and getting to the rim. He only had two in the first half, then scored 20 in the second half.
“In the second half, we had a little bit better of a run, and we fought back into it, but Schankie got hot and really took it to us. We couldn’t get back over the hump.”
The Vikings did get 13 points out of Chase Cleland and 11 out of J.T. Richardson. Hiatt said that the final score for Northeast was indicative of how they had played all year, and that Cleland, Richardson and others did what was expected out of them.
“What we did tonight, those guys have done for us all year,” Hiatt said. “We scored 42, and we’re used to winning games in the high 30s or low 40s. If you talked to them, I’m sure they’d say they let us down tonight, but I don’t think that’s the case.”
Ultimately, the run for Northeast ended at the substate championship, still much further than many had expected out of the Vikings before the season began.
“We had a great season. We were picked to finish third in the conference, and we went undefeated. We made it to the substate finals. I’m proud of the kids and all their hard work to get here,” Hiatt said.
Madison/Hamilton boys 59, Northeast 42
NE 8 3 16 15 — 42
M/E 11 12 18 18 — 59
NORTHEAST (42) — Chase Cleland 13, J.T. Richardson 11, Cody McCloud 8, Jon Baker 8, Cole Robinson 1, Noah Popejoy 1.
MADISON/HAMILTON (59) — Kole Schankie 22, Tanner Bybee 13, Tyler Williams 12, Collin Kile 5, Dallas Thompson 3, Seth Woodie 2, Bubba Smith 2.
The Northeast Vikings did much of what they wanted this year. But Saturday night in the substate final against Madison/Hamilton, Northeast was unable to do enough to get a win, losing 59-42.
“Things just didn’t go our way tonight. We ran into a pretty darn good team. Those things happen once in a while,” said Northeast boys coach Matt Hiatt.
The first half was not kind to the Vikings, as the Bulldogs jumped out to a 23-11 lead at halftime. Hiatt said the Vikings were a deadly mix of not hitting shots and sometimes taking bad shots that worked against them in the first half.
“I thought Madison/Hamilton did a good job of pressing the ball against us. They were in a full-court press all night,” Hiatt said. “I don’t think it was the pressure in the front court that bothered us, but the pressure in the back court. They jumped passing lanes, or started pressing the ball. We only had three points in the second quarter, and I think that was part us missing good shots, and part us taking some rushed shots.”
In the second half, Northeast started to scramble back into the game. Unfortunately, that woke the sleeping dragon that was Bullodg forward Kole Schankie. Schankie only had two points in the first half, but ended with 22.
“He’s a forward, but he hit two threes,” Hiatt said. “He did most of his damage on penetration and getting to the rim. He only had two in the first half, then scored 20 in the second half.
“In the second half, we had a little bit better of a run, and we fought back into it, but Schankie got hot and really took it to us. We couldn’t get back over the hump.”
The Vikings did get 13 points out of Chase Cleland and 11 out of J.T. Richardson. Hiatt said that the final score for Northeast was indicative of how they had played all year, and that Cleland, Richardson and others did what was expected out of them.
“What we did tonight, those guys have done for us all year,” Hiatt said. “We scored 42, and we’re used to winning games in the high 30s or low 40s. If you talked to them, I’m sure they’d say they let us down tonight, but I don’t think that’s the case.”
Ultimately, the run for Northeast ended at the substate championship, still much further than many had expected out of the Vikings before the season began.
“We had a great season. We were picked to finish third in the conference, and we went undefeated. We made it to the substate finals. I’m proud of the kids and all their hard work to get here,” Hiatt said.
Madison/Hamilton boys 59, Northeast 42
NE 8 3 16 15 — 42
M/E 11 12 18 18 — 59
NORTHEAST (42) — Chase Cleland 13, J.T. Richardson 11, Cody McCloud 8, Jon Baker 8, Cole Robinson 1, Noah Popejoy 1.
MADISON/HAMILTON (59) — Kole Schankie 22, Tanner Bybee 13, Tyler Williams 12, Collin Kile 5, Dallas Thompson 3, Seth Woodie 2, Bubba Smith 2.
