LAGRANGE, Ga. - The Vikings got back in the win column and kept their winning streak against the LaGrange College Panthers alive, winning a close game on the road 66-63.
Cameron Pope came to play for the Vikings, finishing the contest as their leading scorer with 19 points.
LaGrange took control of the tip to get the game started. The Panthers and the Vikings got off to a slow start, trading misses on their first offensive possessions. With two minutes off the clock, LaGrange found the bottom of the basket on a three to put themselves on the scoreboard first. On the other end,
Ryan Luttrell earned a trip to the free-throw line to put a point on the board for the Vikings. On their next possession,
Cameron Pope carved his way to the basket and tied the game with a smooth layup.
The Panthers' offense settled in and built out a lead with a 6-0 run.
Grant Stubbs settled the Vikings' offense, shrinking the deficit to one possession with a three. The Panthers maintained their lead, but neither team could assert themselves as they traded buckets.
Issac Plavich eventually got free and tied the game up at 14-14 with a three.
Drew Winegarden quickly followed it up with three of his own to give the Vikings a three-point lead. Finding themselves in a rhythm, the Vikings rode the momentum and extended their lead to a game-high eight points, prompting a Lagrange timeout.
Leaving the break,
Ryan Luttrell picked up right where the Vikings left off, draining a three and bringing the lead to 11. The game slowly slipping away from them, the Panthers' offense found some life and went on an 8-0 run to shrink the deficit to three with three and a half minutes left.
Mason Lawrence pushed the lead back to five, making a layup to stop the bleeding.
The slight lead was short-lived as LaGrange worked the charity stripe, getting into the bonus to even the score at 31-31 with about two minutes to go.
Cameron Pope put Berry back out front down the stretch. The Panthers responded with a three, putting themselves up by one with :50 seconds left in the half. With :05 seconds left in the first half, Issac Martin took it all the way into the paint and put the Vikings back up by one to end the half, the score 35-34.
Berry started the second half with the ball.
Cameron Pope got to the basket for a layup, picking right up where the Vikings left off at the end of the first half. LaGrange got things going for themselves with a three on the other end, knotting the score at 37.
It was a dogfight as the half continued. The Vikings' scrappy defense allowed them to maintain a slight advantage, but the Panthers refused to let themselves fall too far out of striking distance. On the other side, Berry was living by the three, finding timely shots on the perimeter to keep the Panthers down. Eventually, the Vikings managed to earn a seven-point lead with 10 minutes to go.
Once again facing a significant deficit, the Panthers locked in and chipped away at the deficit until they were down by two points with three minutes to go. They kept Berry away from the basket and created a chance to tie in transition. LaGrange danced into a look at the basket with a euro step. They couldn't convert the initial basket, but tipped the ball back up and in, tying the game up at 63.
Canon Armstead immediately responded on the other end, draining his first bucket of the game at the perfect time to put the Vikings back ahead by three with 2:13 left. LaGrange kept Berry away from the basket and got the ball back, calling a timeout with about 30 seconds left.
When they needed something to happen out of the break, the Panthers missed a sidestep three, which found its way to
Canon Armstead. The Panthers stopped the clock, sending the Alabama native to the line. They got a chance, calling a timeout with 0.4 seconds on the clock after he missed. The full court ahead of them, the Panthers launched it deep, but
Cameron Pope tipped the pass and ended the game, the final score 66-63.
The Vikings return home to the Cage to face the Belhaven University Blazers on Wednesday, December 17th, at 4:00 p.m.
