Wing Kamron Fontenot made nine rebounds, had three assists and scored 18 points to help lead the Vikings men’s basketball team to a 69-66 at home victory over Rio Hondo on Friday.
The Vikings started the game off slowly, not being able to shoot the ball well, all while Rio Hondo was making baskets and playing with a fast pace.
As the first half progressed, the Vikings were trailing Rio Hondo by 17, with the score being 24-7.
When the Vikings needed a spark, Fontenot started to dominate getting rebounds, blocking shots, and scoring.
“I definitely did better on the glass. The big difference tonight was being on the glass, so I made sure to focus on that knowing that they were going to throw about two or three at me tonight with us being a bigger team, could have finished a little bit, executed more on defense but otherwise we were straight. We started off 0-2 so getting this win, hopefully we get on a nice little run and turn the season around,” Fontenot said.
The Vikings continued to find their rhythm and took the lead as the first half ended the Vikings lead Rio Hondo 34-33 heading into halftime.
Point guard Lawrence Brown spoke about his performance along with being a leader that tries to impact his teammates.
“I feel like I could have done better, but we got the team win and found my guys, my guys were hitting so that was my main focus is getting everybody involved making sure the team comes out with a win today,” Brown said
Brown started to find his rhythm in the second half with the assistance of his team, hitting shots and setting up his teammates with assists along with a slam dunk.
“Overall, I feel like I definitely played a lot better than the past couple of games. Did a lot of the dirty work. We asked the best guys to come through and they came through for us, they kept us very close in the game got us the lead in the late first half so I just had to come through for my guys,” Brown said.
Brown ended the night with 13 points, two rebounds and three assists and was the third leading scorer for the Vikings.
“I got up on the floor, got rebounds , made good passes just to encourage my team to keep shooting and keep doing better,” Brown said.
As the second half continued, Rio Hondo was starting to make a comeback with the score of 45-44.
The Vikings continued to get rebounds as well as shooting the ball efficiently. Brown got multiple free throw offers and made key free throws down the stretch to extend the Viking’s lead.
The defense of the Vikings made big stop causing Rio Hondo to turn over the ball due to a traveling violation.
Vikings defeated Rio Hondo 69-66, getting their first win of the season and improving their record to 1-2.
Coach Barnes spoke about the importance of this win, how rebounds and free throws made the difference in the game, also feeling proud of the team for making a comeback and winning the game.
“It feels good. We played and we made some free throws that counted, rebounded, and made key free throws down the stretch and I’m proud of the guys. We were down, we were down by 20 and we got some guys that came in, picked us up, took the lead going into halftime. Just that feeling to get the win and get the monkey off your back, (it feels) good man,” Barnes said.
The Vikings men’s basketball team’s next game will be on the road against Riverside City College on Friday at 4 p.m..
You must be logged in to post a comment.