Vikings suffer back-to-back losses

The Charlo boy’s basketball team is still in the process of modifying its young lineup after they lost back-to-back Class-C Western Conference games.

The Vikings’ boys basketball team struggled with committing too many fouls in their 60-47 loss to St. Regis.

Charlo also struggled to contain Brock Cantrell-Field. Cantrell-Field scored 27 points on the Vikings.

“We got in such bad foul trouble early in the game and we could never adjust to the officiating because they were calling the game pretty tight,” Vikings’ Coach Gale Decker said. “That is part of our inexperience. We are still trying to learn to adjust to how games are called and we put them at the free throw line a lot. This St. Regis team is better than they were last year.”

Decker said his team has to be able to adjust to how officials call games.

“(How they call games) kind of varies from night to night and the fact we haven’t adjusted is part of our youth,” Decker said. “We haven’t learned that part of the game yet. We really have to adjust to the officiating and change how we are playing. It’s going to be different every night.”

Garett Vaughan led the team with 12 points, Landers Smith had 10, and Tyson Petticrew finished with six.

Plains 69, Charlo 41

The Vikings’ basketball team discovered quickly why Plains is one of the perennial favorites to win the Western Class-C division in their 69-41 loss Saturday.

“They were picked at the top of the district and rightly so,” Decker said. “They were really good out on the perimeter and we played them hard. We just struggled on offense and couldn’t sustain any rhythm offensively for very long.”

Decker also said he felt Plains beat the Vikings on the offensive and defensive boards.

“They really beat us on the offensive glass,” Decker said. “They had a lot of second and third shots, and we have to do a better job of rebounding. They are pretty athletic and they have some quickness. We just couldn’t keep them off the glass and score the ball from the perimeter. The game was a good experience for our kids.”

Petticrew led the Vikings with 10 points and Landers Smith finished with eight.

“I think we are going to be a different team come February,” Decker said. “They are practicing hard and they are just believing that they are going to get a lot better as the season goes along. Come tournament time, that is where your season is. We treat the regular season a little differently. We are just trying to learn and grow as a team, and prepare ourselves for the tournament.”