Vikes’ 32 minutes away from NCC title

AURELIAN SPRINGS — An aggressive, impressive, (14-0) Northwest Halifax run in the third set the tone for the rest of the game as the Vikings pulled out an, 58-54, overtime victory over Bunn to play for the Northern Carolina conference title.

 The last time that Northwest Halifax hosted Bunn the game went into triple overtime. It was almost certain that history would very well repeat itself as the two faced off in the semi-final round.

  Bunn lead 19-12 after one, and 33-24 at the half to make it a Wildcat first half.

 The Vikings, however, came out in the second half with a new attitude, offensively and defensively. The Vikings trailed by nine at the beginning of the third period, but lead by five at 5:22 after going on a (14-0) run.  After such an effort on offense, the Vikings took their defense to another level by keeping Bunn in check but trailed the Wildcats 41-40.  Eight of the most precious minutes were about to be played with both squads wanting to go for the title. The  anticipation, excitement and intensity level filled the gym, as Bunn and Northwest Halifax turned it up a notch or two to tie it up at 48-all with just 1:28 remaining. Viking Stafford Boyd sank a jumper for a 50-48 lead with just 28.3 ticks on the clock.  Lavon Stanley answered for the Wildcats with a jumper, plus one at the stripe. Brian McGee made it a tie ball game with one at the stripe ending regulation at 51-all.

  Daquan Minggia started the period off for the Vikings with two by making good with a visit to the charity stripe.  McGee scored two and Robbie Moore score one as they took trips to the stripe  to give them a 56-51 lead.  Michael Collins of Bunn made it a two point game by sinking a three from the top of the arch.  Antonio Richardson scored two more points from the line to give Northwest what was the winning score. The Vikings scored all seven of their overtime points at the free throw line.

“I thought that the level of defense in the third quarter was the determining factor of the game, both teams played at a different level from that point on,” said Northwet Head Coach Donald Gibbs.

McGee scored 19 for Northwest Halifax and Boyd had 11.  Stanley had 16 for Bunn, 15 of them came from landing five three’s in a row. Michael Collins had 11.