VI-KINGS OF THE COURT

RONAN - The Charlo Vikings headed into the District 14-C

Basketball Tournament as the three seed thanks to regular season

losses to top-seeded Superior, fourth-seeded Two Eagle and a pair

of defeats to second-seeded Noxon.

RONAN - The Charlo Vikings headed into the District 14-C Basketball Tournament as the three seed thanks to regular season losses to top-seeded Superior, fourth-seeded Two Eagle and a pair of defeats to second-seeded Noxon.

In order to take the district crown, there was a strong likelihood they would have to defeat two of those teams. They did just that in earning the championship, defeating Hot Springs, Noxon and Two Eagle, and it was a title they earned with three hard-fought wins.

None of their wins came easy, including their first matchup against Hot Springs, which wasn't one the Vikings wanted to look past.

In their second-to-last regular season game, Charlo struggled early before rallying to defeat the Savage Heat. Their first-round game against Hot Springs played out in very similar fashion. Despite falling behind at halftime, the Vikings turned things around in a hurry in the second half to upend the Savage Heat 62-38.

The first half didn't go well for Charlo, who led 9-4 early, but saw Hot Springs use an 18-8 run to take a 22-17 halftime lead.

"The boys decided to challenge harder," Charlo head coach Mike Brown said. "We did that against them last time too. In the tournament, we had a slow start, but then cut loose."

Cut loose they did, thanks to a 20-0 run to open the third quarter that turned a five-point deficit into a 15-point lead. From there, things were academic; the Savage Heat never got closer than 12 points from there on out as the Vikings advanced to the semifinals.

Webb O'Neill and Kolten Andrews each scored 13 points, Tra Ludeman added 12 and Dillon Delaney nine for Charlo, who outscored the six seed 45-16 after the break.

The next night, the Vikings faced arguably their biggest nemesis of the season in the Noxon Red Devils. Noxon was responsible for two of Charlo's four losses during the regular season, including a 20-point win at Charlo in their previous meeting.

In the opening moments of their semifinal meeting, it looked like it was going to be a long night for the Vikings. Red Devils' sharpshooter Jordan Eichert hit his first three three-pointers and led Charlo by himself, 9-7 early in the first quarter.

But after a quick adjustment by Brown, his team's fortunes changed.

"We switched our defense up," Brown said. "When we played them before, we played man defense and tried wearing them down. This time, we played a 1-2-2 zone and packed in the middle and made them shoot. When Eichert hit shots early, we came out and played man on him."

The Vikings' snipers came out as well, as Andrews and Delaney combined for three threes of their own in the opening stanza to keep Charlo close early, down just 18-17 after one.

Andrews hit another three in the second, giving him 11 first-half points, as the Vikings took a 29-28 edge into halftime.

The lead switched hands four times on the second-half's first four buckets before Charlo used a 10-4 run to take a 46-39 lead after three periods.

Delaney scored eight of the Vikings' 17 points in the quarter, including a pair of trifectas. Charlo increased the edge to nine to open the fourth and would stave off every rally Noxon made to defeat them for the first time on the year.

Delaney and Andrews each scored 19 to lead the team, while O'Neill and Stephen Delaney added eight and Ludeman seven for the Vikings, who advanced to the championship game to face Lake County neighbor Two Eagle in the rubber match of their season series.

In the district title game, the Vikings used a complete team effort to win their second game in three chances against the Eagles, 70-54.

O'Neill was on fire all night, scoring inside, outside and at the line to the tune of 29 points, while Dillon Delaney added 13 and Stephen Delaney 11 for Charlo, which fell behind early, but rallied strong over the final three quarters to secure the victory.

"As a team, we were happy for him," Brown said O'Neill. "Some fans were booing him, but that woke him up."

O'Neill scored just four points in the first quarter, but was on target all night. Three threes in the second quarter accounted for nine of the Vikings' 19 points which helped them to a 32-25 halftime edge.

Dillon Delaney led the way in the third with eight points, but O'Neill added six during a 21-8 period that all but put the game in hand for Charlo at 53-33.

O'Neill then lived at the charity stripe in the final stanza, scoring eight of his 10 points from the line to ice the win.

While O'Neill was busy scoring his season high, Stephen Delaney dominated the glass, grabbing 12 rebounds to complete the double-double.

"He was able to stay out of foul trouble," Brown said. "He can get into foul trouble, but he played smart. We need to keep him on the floor."

Stephen Delaney will be a key component for the 14-C champions when they head to Butte this week for the divisional tournament. Brown said that while the district title is nice, the thought of it will be gone before they head south.

"It's a whole new ballgame," Brown said. "We're starting over once we head onto the bus. We're going to head (to Butte) and try to win one game at a time. It'll be tough."

Charlo's first matchup was at 8 p.m. on Wednesday night. Results of that game were unavailable at press time.

CHARLO VS H.S.

H.S. - 11 - 11 - 5 - 11 - 38

Charlo - 9 - 8 - 26 - 19 - 62

Vikings scoring - Kolten Andrews 13, Webb O'Neill 13, Tra Ludeman 12, Dillon Delaney 8, Tyler Delaney 5, Justin Krahn 4, Stephen Delaney 3, Kail Pope 2, Maverick Nelson 2

CHARLO VS NOXON

Charlo - 17 - 12 - 17 - 15 - 61

Noxon - 18 - 10 - 11 - 13 - 52

Vikings scoring - Kolten Andrews 19, Dillon Delaney 19, Stephen Delaney 8, Webb O'Neill 8, Tra Ludeman 7

CHARLO VS TERS

TERS - 14 - 11 - 8 - 21 - 54

Charlo - 13 - 19 - 21 - 17 - 70

Vikings scoring - Webb O'Neill 29, Dillon Delaney 13, Stephen Delaney 11, Kolten Andrews 9, Tra Ludeman 3, Kail Pope 3, Maverick Nelson 2