NorthPointe Christian came to Hopkins Friday night with upset on their minds. And they got just what they wanted with a 69-63 overtime verdict.
Led by a two-man offensive wrecking crew of guards Sam Vasiu and Jared DeClark, the Mustangs halted Hopkins’ nine-game winning streak and dropped the home team back into a possible tie for first place with them and Calvin Christian in the O-K Silver Conference.
Vasiu scored 33 points with furious drives against the Vikings’ zone and DeClark swished six three-point field goals and netted 20 points.
Meanwhile, Hopkins got off to a sluggish offensive start, scoring only nine and 10 points in the first two quarters. The Mustangs, on the other hand, were blessed by two buzzer-beating baskets at the end of the first two periods, the second a three-pointer by DeClark.
NorthPointe built a 25-19 lead at intermission and DeClark nailed two of his threes to stake the visiting quintet to a 31-21 advantage in just the first minute of the third quarter. Coach Jake Jewett was able to regroup his lads, who went on a magnificent 13-3 run to tie the contest at 34-all with 2:11 remaining.
The Mustangs were able to hold in check the Vikings’ top two scorers, Tyler Zomerlei and Colin Weber, the latter who didn’t make a field goal until well into the second half. Drew Weber, held scoreless in the first half, and junior guard Trevor Smith stepped up to fill the void.
Drew Weber began to take the basketball to the iron to score inside frequently and he swished eight of nine free throw attempts, many of them for three-point plays.
Smith played perhaps his finest basketball game of his career thus far by scoring 19 points, most of them with moves to the basket.
After the two squads were tied, they battled evenly for the remainder of regulation, knotting the count at 56-56 to set up the extra session. This was the prelude to the Vikings’ fall.
The Mustangs outgunned Hopkins 13-7 in those extra four minutes, which featured DeClark making his only non-threes of the night, a pair of free throws.
Drew Weber collected 22 points, Smith dropped in 19, Colin Weber was held to 10 and Zomerlei just eight.
The loss dropped the Vikings’ O-K Silver record to 9-2 and Calvin Christian and NorthPointe are 8-2 with just two conference ballgames left. Overall, Hopkins now is 13-5.
Earlier in the evening, the Hopkins girls’ squad lost 50-46 to NorthPointe, for the second time this season. The Lady Vikings now are 10-8 overall and 7-4 in the O-K Silver Conference.
COVER PHOTO: Drew Weber (21) loses the basketball here, but he came back strong in the second half to score 22 points.
