(PHOTOS BY BREANA RELIFORD / THE VILLAGE REPORTER)
ROAD WIN … Evergreen’s John Herman starts a drive to the hoop in the Vikings win at Bryan. VIEW 131 PHOTOS OF THIS CONTEST FOR FREE AT WWW.THEVILLAGEREPORTER.COM
SLAM IT HOME … Bryan junior Kingston Sito slams home two of his 14 points on the night.
By: Joe Blystone
THEVILLAGE REPORTER
publisher@thevillagereporter.com
BRYAN (January 31, 2025) – Three years ago, Evergreen basketball players lived by the slogan, #CreateChaos, #WreakHavoc.
They still follow that lead today, most recently before a large crowd at Bryan, where the Vikings forced 15 turnovers in the middle two quarters, and blew an open a tight game on their way to a 79-52 win over the Golden Bears.
“We talked about transition being a big key in this game,” Viking coach Kyle Bostater said. “Bryan has a lot of size and some good athletes but we said we are going to rely on our speed and get the ball out in transition.” “Speed kills.”
John Herdman, George Allendorf and Troy Manz each tripled early to give Evergreen a 13-7 lead with 3:29 to go in the first.
Bryan fought back to tie on Gavin Jaessing’s score inside and Kingston Sito’s three-point play with 10 seconds left in the first.
Will Ruetz beat everyone down the floor to nail a wing jumper at the buzzer to put Evergreen up 15-13. Landon Bassett kept Bryan within a deuce at 17-15 but in less than two minutes, Evergreen turned Bryan over three times during a 9-0 run.
Ruetz’ swipe-and-score started the burst, then Allendorf’s pick and pass for a Ruetz triple and two transition hoops from Manz and Quinn Eisel got the Vikes a double-digit lead at 26-15.
Jaessing and Sito each hit from outside the arc to get Bryan back to a single-digit deficit, but Ruetz canned a heave from near midcourt at the second quarter horn to boost the lead to 35-23.
Jaessing’s three-ball to start the third got Bryan within 35-26 but Evergreen had an answer plus some. The Vikings used eight third quarter turnovers to go on a 24-8 salvo the rest of the period.
Ruetz started a 13-2 burst with a jumper, then the chaos took over. Allendorf had two pick-six scores, Eisel converted another Bryan turnover into a layup and Herdman fed Ruetz for a triple off yet another Bryan miscue to open a 48-28 gap.
The Vikings weren’t done as Eisel got a putback, Herdman and Allendorf each scored off turnovers and Ruetz hit a fallaway jumper to put Evergreen up 59-34 going into the fourth.
“We talked about that with our guys,” Bostater explained of Evergreen’s balance. “We don’t run plays for one guy.”
“We have a number of guys who are talented, and we are going to continue to move the ball around. You don’t know who’s night it’s going to be.” The fun part now is how they are feeding off each other.”
Evergreen got their biggest lead at 79-50 on Sean Rafferty’s triple just under the two minute mark in the game.
Ruetz’s 29 points led all scorers and led a Viking attack that had four players hit double figures. Allendorf added 15 while Manz had 11 and Eisel 10.
Bassett led Bryan with 16, Sito had 14 and Jaessing added 13.
Evergreen shot an even 50 percent from the floor (34/68) and had just eight turnovers. Bryan had 22 turnovers in all and was 19/54 from the field.
EVERGREEN (79) – Manz 11; Ruetz 29; Herdman 9; Allendorf 15; Eisel 10; Fritsch 0; Sanford 0; Rafferty 3; Johnson 2; Totals: 26-8-3 – 79
BRYAN (52) – M. Welling 0; Miller 2; Muehlfeld 4; Jaessing 13; Bassett 16; Sito 14; Dominique 1; Watson 0; B. Welling 0; Koenig 0; Beltran 0; Engstrom 0; Totals: 12-7-7 – 52
EHS 15 20 24 20 – 79
BHS 13 10 11 18 – 52
