Full Roster Vikings Record First Victory

Story and Photos by Robert Thomas

Half of the Moose Jaw senior boys basketball season may be over but for the Vanier Vikings it’s like the season is just beginning.

Hobbled by injuries the Vikings have a rough go this season but that ended Tuesday evening as the Vikings were able for the first time this season to field a full bench.

It was a full bench which saw the Vikings use their size to block out the visiting Lumsden Devils to record a 65 - 55 victory.

Lumsden Devils head coach Drew Schenk saw the game as a game of two halves.

“They (Vanier Vikings) made some good adjustments after the first half,” Schenk said.

Up until the Vikings made their adjustments the Devils managed to effectively move the ball to the best shot. Plus on offensive rebounds the smaller Devils managed multiple opportunities to score off rebounds.

The score at the end of the First Quarter was Vikings 12 and Devils 8.

At Halftime the Devils had clawed their way back to a slim 27 - 24 lead over the Vikings.

The Devils used their speed in the first half to consistently outwork the Vikings for rebounds.

“They did a nice job on the boards for sure. We’re a little undersized compared to some of Vanier’s big players but some of our guys have a pretty good nose for the ball and get after it,” he said.

The second half was a different story.

“We were one and done on most of our shots in the second half. The stole the ball most times and we were having trouble. As soon as we were able to figure things out we got better shots but still we were one and done mostly.”

“They were more aggressive on the offence too. They were taking it right to the rim and sort of daring us to hold them kind of thing,” he said, adding “we kind of let them go and not putting up as much of a fight as we could have.”

“They definitely outplayed us in the second half for sure.”

Playing better teams is a help to the Devils.

“You can’t get away without any bad habits and stuff like that. You really notice quickly when they go on for runs like they did in the second half,” Schenk said.

Asked if the shorter bench had an effect in Vanier’s second half comeback he said he never saw it that way. He put it down to a lack of productivity in the second half.

“The way they switched things up (at half time) turned us quickly. We were just late to respond.”

For Vanier Vikings head coach Brody Wasmann the sense of relief was visible in his face.

The injury riddled Vikings have their first win as the season hits it half way point. Additionally 12 out of 13 players on their roster were dressed for the game.

“It feels good. We just have one guy left that is just coming back from a broken leg and I think he’s got about three weeks until he is kind of cleared for sports,” Wasmann said.

“It’s nice to have a full roster you can cycle through and get going in practices.”

The full roster was felt on Tuesday evening.

“It definitely helps especially if your players have been out there for a long time. We can get fresh bodies out, even for a minute to give them a bit of a breather,” he said.

“We can get them back out if the game starts to go against us.”

The Vikings shallow play in the first half allowed the Devils to capitalize.

“Our game was stagnant in the first half. We weren’t really boxing out on defence. We were giving them lots of out shots and lots of opportunities to score. And on our offensive side we were just forcing too much.”

“We were taking bad shots. Trying to dribble around two or three guys. Not running the kind of game we wanted to.

The halftime talk with the players was critical.

“We had a talk and we said we had about 17 turnovers and 12 missed layups in that first half and you can’t win a game by not scoring the points.”

Taking care of the turnovers and finishing up their fast breaks and taking the initiative in offence was reflected in the score.

“We challenged our guys to start boxing out and getting proper position in defence and actually finishing off defensive possession,” he said about the halftime chat with the players.

“We have some bigger guys and we just started talking to them about stepping up. Getting those good positions and contesting for that ball,” he said.

Despite the win Wasmann said there was still some work to do.

Lumsden made a comeback down 20 points and were able to make the game a ten point victory.

“If they had another minute there’s a very good chance we would have been down to the wire on that game.”