Vikings chasing big hoops goals

The Vincent Massey Vikings are just five weeks away from the moment they’ve prepared their whole basketball lives for.

They knew they had potential two years ago, when they reached the AAAA junior varsity boys’ provincial final four. Now, the best Vikings varsity squad in recent decades wants to go at least one step further.

“It’s everything,” said senior guard Wesley Burton. “We just want to do it all for our last ride, the last time we (play with) each other before a bunch of us graduate. It’d mean everything.

“This group, so fun, man. I enjoy coming every day … competing with each other, it’s just awesome.”

Massey started the year with a dominant showing at the J.H. Bruns Bronco Invitational, earning two 40-plus-point wins before beating Grant Park 96-88 in the final.

The Vikings advanced to the Tier 1 semifinals at the Brandon Sun Spartan Invitational, falling 71-59 to the Oak Park Raiders and then 95-93 to the Sisler Spartans in the third-place game.

Massey finished third at the Winnipeg Invitational Tournament three weeks ago, which included a huge near-upset of the No. 2-ranked St. Paul’s Crusaders in the semifinals.

Massey fell 76-74, but walked away feeling it could hang with anyone.

“Even though we came up short, it was a great game, and we enjoyed it a lot,” said senior forward Rylan Lidster.

“We had pretty high expectations coming into the season. We wanted to be ranked at the start of the season, and it’s been a fun year, winning a lot of games and playing a lot of good teams this year.

“We finally get to show our abilities and who we are.”

Who are they, exactly?

Watch the Brandon University men, and you’ll see a bunch of similarities for a few logical reasons.

For one, their coach is BU assistant coach Brett Nohr. And a bunch of the Vikings run in open gyms with the Bobcats, so they learn from them when going head-to-head and when sitting in the front row and cheering them on every Friday and Saturday night.

“I’d be Max Winters, because we play the same position,” Lidster said. “Knox (Smith) is Youri (Cange), and Markus (Stevenson) is probably a Sultan (Bhatti).”

Stevenson can do it all. The Grade 11 forward has expanded his game, and can thrive as the guy the offence runs through or someone who can cause problems for defences off the ball.

Smith is an elite perimeter defender with growing consistency on the offensive end, while the team boasts a full lineup of players who can come off the bench and make an impact, such as Ashton Opperman.

“He’s a pest,” Lidster said. “He doesn’t really guard anyone on defence, he’s just roaming around and running around and gets the most steals in the game. He’s a threat on offence because he’s always getting steals.

“Most teams we play in Winnipeg, it’s the starting five and that’s it. Our bench is very deep, and we can have that longevity on our team. We can usually outplay and outlast a lot of teams.”

The Vikings haven’t lost in league play and have all but locked up a bye to the city final, putting them two wins away from a guaranteed spot at provincials.

They’re ranked seventh in the province right now, behind the three teams they’ve lost to, plus No. 1 Dakota, No. 2 Maples and No. 4 Churchill.

Burton feels the biggest key to his team’s success is a simple one.

“How much work we put in,” he said. “Nohr trains us relentlessly every day at practice — he makes us that good. Knox trains on his own, Markus trains on his own; they all put in the extra work and it shows out there.”

The first round of provincials is exactly five weeks away, and the Vikings are confident they can get Nohr his first-ever win at the 12-team tournament — and hopefully a whole lot more.

» tfriesen@brandonsun.com