Vikings advance with Nohr’s first provincial win

WINNIPEG — Brett Nohr has his first AAAA provincial victory, and the Vincent Massey Vikings sure had to earn it.

They dug themselves a double-digit hole and never put the game out of reach, but defended their way to a 73-64 win over the Garden City Gophers at Pembina Trails Collegiate on Thursday.

“It was good, I felt good not only for myself but for the kids, for (assistant coach) Derek (Barnett) and (Gil) Cheung, who’s been helping me,” Nohr said.

“It’s a group effort and our kids played hard. The kids who didn’t play, their emotions on the bench were good, they were excited to be here, they were helping their teammates out.”

The Vikings endured a nightmare start, missing every shot and put-back they took against the undersized Gophers lineup.

Garden City, which needed a wildcard game to get into the tournament as the No. 11 seed, opened up a 13-2 lead halfway through the first quarter.

As some of the Vikings predicted, it took some grit off the bench to spark their first run of the game. Griffin Zilkey stepped in and drew a charge, then Cole Vandenberghe hit a big three-pointer.

Logan Van Santen fought for a few offensive rebounds to extend possessions as Massey kept cutting into the lead.

It trailed just 17-15 after 10 minutes after closing the quarter on a six-point run. Massey exteneded the run to 16 points more than halfway through the second quarter.

Knox Smith kept the Vikings organized early, and his offensive game followed down the stretch as he hit a few pull-up jumpers, realizing no one could elevate high enough to contest him.

Massey made it 38-25 at halftime.

“We went off those little things. We keep adding and adding to this big fire that builds up. Once the fire starts, we don’t stop,” said guard Wesley Burton.

“Down 11-2, it was looking rough, but we keep fighting the whole game. We play the whole game hard and the outcome is what it is.”

The Vikings extended the lead to 45-25 early in the third, but went on a length lapse in energy as the Gophers brought their fiercest defence of the night to their full-court press. They had three straight steal-and-scores and nailed a bundle of open looks as they enjoyed a 15-0 run over the next five minutes.

Once again, it took the bench to get Massey out of the funk. This time, Burton stepped on the floor and immediately deflected a pass to Zilkey, who found him on a fast break for two.

The Vikings took a 51-43 advantage into the final frame.

It stayed within a few possessions most of the way before Callum Brosseau drilled a big trey to make it 67-54 with just 71 seconds to go.

The Gophers got hot, hitting a trio of desperation threes while playing the foul game, but it wasn’t enough as the Vikings knocked enough free throws down to ice it.

The Vikings take on the No. 3 seed Churchill Bulldogs on Saturday at Fort Richmond at 4 p.m.

While it used to be a AAA program, Churchill became the home to Northstar Prep in 2019, and the athletes from the program can play on the varsity team.

“I know they’re very athletic, they have a lot of prep kids who play basketball 24/7,” Nohr said.

“At our school, we’re dealing with the multi-sport athlete and we’re going to deal with kids that basketball is everything to them.

“Their intensity level is what’s going to get us at the start, so we’ve got to try to match that.”

• • •

In junior varsity action, the Plainsmen girls lost 67-38 to the Sisler Spartans, while the Crocus boys fell 95-64 to Sisler.

» tfriesen@brandonsun.com