The Vikings men's basketball team opened the 2009-10 campaign this Friday and Saturday at the Grace University Classic in Omaha, Nebraska. The 7th ranked Vikings received their first victory of the season Friday night with a 73-56 win over Grace University. The following afternoon the Grand View took on Dana College from Blair, NE and was victorious again, winning convincingly 91-58.
In the first contest against Grace University the Vikings started slowly, as the host team shot the ball exceptionally well from the field in the first twenty minutes. At halftime the Vikings held a slim 35-34 lead. However the second half was a much different story. Last season's All-American selection, senior Corey Viet, started to pound away down low against an undersized Grace University team. Viet finished the night with 19 points and 8 rebounds, connecting on 8 of his 13 attempts from the field. Sophomore transfer Kevin Smith finished in double figures with 10 points in his first game as a Viking. Other key contributors to the win came from the bench as James Metzger gave the Vikings 6 points off the bench and Nick Wagner and Bryant Kucera each were 3 of 5 from the field, finishing with 9 and 8 points respectively. Senior big man Joey Terpstra also finished with a strong showing off the bench as he finished with 7 points and 7 rebounds.
Less than 14 hours after gathering their first victory of the season the Vikings took the court again against Dana College. Dana College was coming off a strong showing the night before against MCC member Iowa Wesleyan College. This time though the Vikings took control of the game from the opening tip and were led by a strong effort from their senior starters. Senior point guard Grant Burns got things going early as he found plenty of open Vikings in transition, finishing the night with 5 assists and 12 points. Two seniors were on the receiving end of Burns' assists were Greg Schulz, who shot 6 of 8 from the field including 4 of 6 from three, and Matt Banzhaf who finished 5 of 7 from the field and 3 of 4 from three. Schulz ended up with 16 points, while Banzhaf had 13 points. The Vikings were led in scoring by Kevin Smith who finished with 20 points and was 10 of 10 from the charity stripe. The Vikings shot an impressive 61.5% from three and 52.3% from the field, while holding Dana College to 32% percent from the field and 22% from three.
Next up for the Vikings:
The Vikings host Midland Lutheran College Wednesday, Nov. 4 at 7:30 p.m.
