Vikings See Good And Bad In Tournament

It was a good, bad and no too ugly weekend for the Vanier Vikings senior boys basketball team at this weekend’s Helping Hoops tournament.

The Vikings managed to garner a 1 - 3 record in the 16 team invitational tournament.

For the Vikings they lost a golden opportunity for a victory in their second game as a 20 point lead vaporized in the second half.

Despite the losses the Vikings showed strengths while weaknesses appeared in key areas.

“We’re not happy with the results. Definitely the fourth game there was a lack of energy and we came up just short. We ran out of gas. I’m happy with the guys over the weekend,” Vanier Vikings head coach David Tardif.

Despite the loss and a 1 - 3 tournament record Tardif said there were many things the coaches were happy with.

“The first two games we were right in the thick of it. Two tough losses we just can’t find the bottom of the bucket. We responded strong early this morning against Winston Knoll. We came back from a deficit. We were shooting well and passing well,” Tardif said.

In their first game the trio of Walker, Van and Gray played a dominant game breaking for the net and offensive rebounds.

They forced the Luther Lions to throw up the wall to prevent the action.

The problems for the Viking were they couldn’t find the net and the Lions fast transition and deep passes led to easy baskets.

“We did play some good solid lock down defence. We did a great job passing looking for the opening…we just got to hope (for baskets)” he said.

The Vikings had a 20 point lead against the Greenall Griffins only to end up 17 points behind.

A key moment in the game came when the Griffins took advantage of the Vikings’ defence to score a bevy of three pointers and take the lead. For the first half of tge game the Vikings dominated.

“We had a tougher time in the second game. But we just can’t get the points.”

Having a hard time finding the twine has been a major problem for the Vikings this year.

Tardif said the boys are going to have to work on shooting during their spare time to get the shooting percentages up.

Tardif said the tournament helps the team develop by having the opportunity to play teams they haven’t seen before.

“This was a really well run tournament. There are a lot of great teams here. There’s a lot of great games all around. It was a lot of fun and a great experience. We got to play against a variety of teams just to see where we are.”

Tardif said the Vikings improved by attending the tournament.

“We got use to playing in adversity. Getting some good moments some glimmers. We are a good team when we produce points,” Tardif said.

The Scoresheet