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Show ! Jfy' Qr V. t m ,f if is:: Jp,, , 'lit- V -5S 1. JO-. fc. - fc'kZL. PHOTO BY GARY BLODGETT Viewmont's Jared Blauer leaps high into the air to block out Kearns' giant Nathan Wickizer (6-foot 10) and steal a rebound in Friday night's preseason game. Derek Hope watches action in which the Vikinqs won, 51-45. Vikings hold on to win preseason basketball encounter with Kearns By GARY R. BLODGETT Sports Editor Viewmont High's Vikings staved off a last-quarter rally to nip the Kearns High Cougars, 51-45, last Friday night on the Vikes' home court. The preseason win upped the Vikings' record to 2-2, the same as the Cougars who had won their two previous games after losing a season sea-son opener to West. It was a hard-fought, well-played game that saw a lot of exposure from Nathan Wickizer, a former Woods Cross player who transferred transfer-red to Kearns. The big (6-foot 10, 225 pounder) not only led all scorers scor-ers with 23 points offensively, but was also a standout on defense. But Wickizer alone wasn't enough for the Cougars. Once Viewmont began hitting from the perimeter and opened the inside lane for layups, it was evident Kearns had a real battle on its hands. The Vikes took command early in the game on quick baskets by Jared Blauer, Jason Smith and Paul James who combined for all of Viewmont's 16 first quarter points. The Vikes led 16-14 at the close of the fast and furious opening period. Brian Bowler tanked three goals from the outside to open the second quarter and the Vikes surged ahead 26-22 at halftime as they held the Cougars to only eight points the second quarter. Wickizer had his moments of glory hitting three 3-point shots from outside the key and from the deep corner with as much ease as a simple layup. But he turned cold in the waning minutes as Kearns made a real run for the money. Mis sed foul shots and impatience for the good field goal attempts late in the game played an important role in the Kearns' loss. But if there was a "turning point" in the entire game, it had to be at the 1 :30 mark in the final quarter quar-ter right after Danny Stirland hit a 3-pointer to bring the Cougars to within one point at 46-45. Viewmont's coaching staff recognized rec-ognized that a Kearns player had not reported into the game. A technical tech-nical foul was called against Kearns and Derek Hope tanked both free throws and reserve David Chidister iced the game with a couple cou-ple more charity tosses. James was top scorer for a well-balanced well-balanced Viking offense with 12 points. Bowles followed with 10; Blauer and Smith each had eight; and Hope and Chidister each collected col-lected six. |