By: Joe Blystone
THE VILLAGE REPORTER
publisher@thevillagereporter.com
METAMORA – (February 23, 2024) – Tick, tick tick, tick….Two minutes into the game Swanton held a 4-2 lead. And suddenly……BOOM!!!!
Evergreen rattled off a 20-3 first quarter run, fueled mostly by six steals and 11 Bulldogs turnovers and went on to a 56-39 victory before an electric and boisterous crowd at Evergreen.
“Playing a team twice can be a good thing or a bad thing and tonight it was a good thing,” Viking coach Jerry Keifer said.
“What we did tonight compared to the first time (we played Swanton and won by 10) we improved on. It’s a good win and Bruce Smith is a heck of a coach. I learned a lot from him when he was on staff here a few years ago and this is always a battle with them.”
Logan Young’s three-pointer had helped the Bulldogs to a two-point lead, and they had possession of the ball when the Vikings suddenly looked like a bunch of puppies stealing biscuits before the big dog could move.
Eli Keifer’s pick 6 tied the game at the 5:59 mark and ignited a scoring burst that continued through quarter’s end.
Riley Dunbar’s putback and Keifer’s triple off another turnover made it 9-4 but the Vikings were far from done. After a Hunter Vaculik bucket, Keifer scored again off another Bulldog miscue.
Tyson Woodring’s basket with 1:54 left was followed five seconds later when Blade Walker picked the inbounds and fed Keifer for a long triple.
Dunbar finished the run getting two buckets within nine seconds, the first on a banker from the right and the second on yet another pick 6 the high-flying senior finished with a resounding slam for a 22-7 margin at the horn.
Towering 6’10” Charlie Wood did his best to keep Swanton in contact, scoring 10 second quarter points but Troy Manz buried a pair of long-range bombs from outside the arc, and Walker got a bucket off the offensive glass and fed Drew Gillen for another lay in to help the Vikings maintain a 35-22 advantage at the half.
Keifer accounted for all 12 Viking points in the third as he found Dunbar for a basket, then hit four straight shots from the field including a pair of three-balls to counter Wood’s three buckets, extending the Evergreen lead to 47-29 after the third.
Dunbar’s second thundering dunk off a Woodring steal and deal along with Manz’ third triple gave Evergreen their largest lead at 52-31 with 7:15 to go when Keifer began a revolving door of substitutions to finish the game.
“Our focus now has to be on who wins the Delta-Paulding game and coming back this Monday and going back to work to keep getting better for the tournament,” Keifer said.
Keifer had 24 for the Vikings and Dunbar 10 as Evergreen had just nine turnovers, most of those coming in the last six minutes. Wood scored 20 for Swanton who had 25 turnovers on the night.
Swanton travels to Liberty Center for the first round of the Division III sectionals on February 27 while Evergreen will host the winner of the Delta-Paulding contest in a Division III sectional final on March 1.