CHICAGO, Ill. -- After an impressive win against the #25 Anderson University Ravens, the Vikings were set to build on that momentum today against the struggling Scots of Alma College (0-6). The Vikings took care of business with an 83-69 win, led 15 points from senior guard TJ Gardner.
The first half was a display of a true collective effort from the Vikings' offense, having 10 of the 11 players who saw the floor score at least once. Junior guard Lance Nelson led all Vikings with 7 first-half points, followed by sophomore DJ Wallace and seniors TJ Gardner and John Gaines with 6 points. Rico Powell was making his impact felt early leading the Vikings with 5 rebounds, 3 assists, 2 steals, and a pair of blocked shots.
Alma was able to stay close for much of the first half, even maintaining a two-point lead for a bit. However, with five minutes left the Vikings went on a 15-0 run to close the half, taking the lead 45-32.
The dominance that the Vikings found in the latter minutes of the first half continued for the rest of the game as the Vikings stretched their lead to as much as 20. Ten players for the Vikings scored at least 4 points and the team tallied 12 steals and 6 blocks, showing the defensive identity that head coach Ed McGhee emphasizes.
TJ Gardner had a team high 15 points, but again, the unselfish play of the Vikings allowed for 13 of the 15 players on the team to score, with six players scoring 7 or more points. This marks back-to-back games where the Vikings were able to have a positive assist-to-turnover ratio at 16:13. If the Vikings can keep protecting the ball, getting everyone involved, and continue to force turnovers from the other team, they can make some noise in the CCIW with conference play starting up next week.
Top Performers:
- TJ Gardner – 15 PTS, 2 STL
- Rico Powell – 7 PTS, 3 STL, 5 REB, 4 AST, 2 BLK
- Lance Nelson – 9 PTS, 7 REB, 2 AST, 1 STL, 1 BLK
- DJ Wallace – 8 PTS, BLK
- John Gaines – 6 PTS, 3 AST, 3 REB, 1 BLK, 1 STL
- Tristan Arneaud – 9 PTS, 4 STL, 3 AST
What's Next?
Wednesday, December 4th, the Vikings (3-3) will go to Waukesha, Wisconsin to take on Carroll University before hosting Millikin University on Saturday, December 7th, to open the CCIW portion of their season.
