Unfortunately, the Vikings’ young squad suffered some second-half hiccups, while the Blue Comets parlayed success at the charity stripe into a come-from-behind 69-58 win. With the loss, the Vikings dropped to 0-6 in the conference and 4-12 overall. Asheboro, coming off a 20-point loss to Ragsdale Wednesday, moved to 2-4 in the conference and 8-7 overall.
In the girls’ contest, something had to give as both teams entered the game with 0-5 conference marks. Unfortunately for the Vikings, it was the Blue Comets who cracked into the win column with a 60-44 victory. Asheboro is now 6-9 overall, while the Viking girls fell to 0-6 and 5-11.
For the boys, a hot-shooting first half enabled the Vikes to take a 32-23 lead into the locker room. They continued to thrive early in the third quarter, holding on to a 38-30 lead halfway through the period. Then the roof caved in on the Vikings, who were missing inside force Jeremy Davis. The junior post player was out with the flu.
“That first half was the best we’ve played since before Christmas,” said Viking coach Bobby Purvis. “Being young we have a fragile psyche. We’re not real confident when the other team starts to play well. There is always a time when you have to go toe-to-toe with the other team and we’ve had trouble when that happens. But we’ll get better. It’s not from lack of effort, we just get a little tentative.”
Senior Anthony Jones led the Vikings with 22 points, while sophomores Jared Korver added 10 points and Bryan Collins eight. Purvis pointed to the first-half efforts of Matt Mendiguren and Carson McLean, another sophomore, as part of the reason the Vikings played so well.
“We’re short of bodies (Davis and Sam Wilborn, a Viking sparkplug who is gone for the year because of injury),” Purvis said, “so some of the sophomores have to make contributions and they are doing that. I’m pleased with their efforts.”
But it was the effort of Blue Comet Dante McNeill in the second half that was key to Asheboro’s win. McNeill scored 19 of his team-leading 21 points in the second half. He went nine for 10 from the free-throw line, as the Blue Comets knocked down 13 of 17 from the charity stripe in the final quarter.
Asheboro turned the game around with a 13-2 run to end the third period, taking a 43-40 lead. The Blue Comets pushed the lead to 10 midway through the fourth quarter, and the Vikings turned to fouling in an effort to get back in the game.
“It’s hard to defend against free throws,” Purvis said. “Give them credit, they made them when they had to.”
Joining McNeill in double figures for the Blue Comets was Blake Brewer with 13, while Bryan Gallimore and Joel Thompson added 12 points each.
The lack of a win in the conference isn’t dousing Purvis’ passion for his team.
“I like this basketball team,” he said. “Our kids have worked hard to try and get a (conference) win. I’ve been with them every day and I know how hard they are working. The other team’s have out scored us, but they haven’t out worked us.”
Union Pines will play the third of a four-game conference road stretch when it travels to take on Southwestern Randolph Tuesday.
