Post play solid for Charlo
CHARLO - When one thinks of a lineman, the image of Refrigerator
Perry for the Super Bowl champion Chicago Bears comes to mind. It
would be rather hard to imagine Perry flying up and down the
basketball court in an up-tempo offense.
CHARLO - When one thinks of a lineman, the image of Refrigerator Perry for the Super Bowl champion Chicago Bears comes to mind. It would be rather hard to imagine Perry flying up and down the basketball court in an up-tempo offense.
But then again, the Fridge never went to school in Charlo. Chance Rosenbaum roamed the line of scrimmage for the Vikings this fall and he'll be doing plenty of roaming for the basketball team this winter.
"He's very athletic, he's a strong kid, he's quick and he's our main focus inside," Vikings head coach Mike Brown said.
The Charlo Vikings knew they'd have plenty of speed against Superior last Friday, but one thing they were unsure of was the height matchup. The Vikings were at the disadvantage.
However, all the inches in the world wasn't going to counter the work ethic of Rosenbaum. The 6'2" senior hustled his way all over the place en route to a game-high 15 points in a 50-31 victory.
"He had to work hard," Brown said.
Brown thought that Superior would initially try to slow the game down and pound it inside to take advantage of their height. However, the Vikings were taking the guards out of the equation with their defense and the Bobcats were forced to run with them.
"We wore them down once we got the big guys chasing us," Brown said.
The Vikings jumped out to a 16-7 lead in the first quarter, as junior Dillon Delaney hit a trio of three-pointers.
Delaney would finish the game with 11 points. Senior Garrett Herron added nine.
Both teams scored eight in the second quarter, and a 17 point third quarter had Charlo up 41-26. Brown was particularly impressed with the team's defense and overall play.
"For being undersized, I thought we did a good job scrapping," Brown said.
The Vikings collected 34 rebounds despite the height disadvantage against Superior.
They needed that same kind of gutsy performance again against Alberton on Saturday as once again, they found themselves as the smaller team.
Junior Stephen Delaney, who sat out all football season due to a fracture in his back, came alive. Rosenbaum found himself in foul trouble early, so the Vikings needed someone to pick up the slack.
"Stephen came off the bench and took off," Brown said.
Delaney took off to the tune of 18 points and gave Alberton some serious fits on defense.
"Stephen grew up. He outgrew his guard body and now he's a post with a guards ability," Brown said.
The Delaney namesake was made proud as cousin Dillon added nine to the score total as well. He, along with senior guard Kolten Andrews, did a great job controlling the tempo of the
game and keeping it in Charlo's favor.
Andrews had ten points in the game. After being tied 9-9 in the first quarter, the Vikings exploded for 15 points in the second and took a 24-14 lead.
They held pat in the third and then an eight-point spree by Stephen Delaney in the fourth helped the Vikings pull away to a safe win, outscoring Alberton 16-6 in the final stanza.
Another bright spot for the Vikings was senior Chico Stipe, who is recovering from a knee injury in football.
His leadership out on the court is a continuation of his quarterbacking out on the gridiron.
"He's still nursing it, I can see it's getting stronger," Brown said. "He's starting to get his legs under him."
With Rosenbaum, the Delaneys, Herron, Andrews and Stipe, the Vikings should have plenty of legs to run on this season.
Friday's game
Superior - 7 - 8 - 11 - 5 - 31
Charlo - 16 - 8 - 17 - 9 - 50
Vikings scoring - Chance Rosenbaum 15, Dillon Delaney 11, Garrett Herron 9, Stephen Delaney - 4, Kolten Andrews 4, Tra Ludeman 3, Chico Stipe 3, Tyler Delaney 1
Saturday's game
Charlo - 9 - 15 - 12 - 16 - 52
Alberton - 9 - 5 - 12 - 6 - 32
VIkings scoring - Stephen Delaney 18, Kolten Andrews 10, Dillon Delaney 9, Garrett Herron 5, Chance Rosenbaum 4, Chico Stipe 3, Tra Ludeman 2, Tristan Santee 1