The young and inexperienced, but talented Hopkins boys’ basketball team Friday night registered perhaps its most satisfying victory this season, a 71-58 verdict over visiting Northpointe Christian.
The Vikings, who do not start a senior and have only two 12th-graders on the squad and even a first-year coach in Jake Jewitt, put the area on notice that there may be even better things to come in the future. Their triumph lifted their overall season record to 10-8 and avenged a loss to Northpointe earlier in the season.
Hopkins worked the basketball well to get good inside looks at the hoop and got quality offense from junior Hunter Lewellyn and rebounding from senior Mason Schaendorf off the bench in the second quarter to take a 35-37 lead at halftime. Sophomore Tyler Zomerlei also added some offensive spark late in the second period, along with freshman Colin Weber and the young Vikes had only four turnovers at that point.
Zomerlei opened the second half with a fast break layup to put the Vikings up by double figures, 37-27, for the first time during the evening. Schaendorf, who collected seven points and five rebounds in limited time because of fouls, nailed a three to widen the gap to 42-30 with five minutes remaining in the third period.
The Mustangs got as close as five, 42-37, almost immediately afterward, and Hopkins was being whistled for seven fouls to just one for the visiting quintet, but Hopkins took a welcome timeout and regrouped.
Weber scored 11 of his points in the third quarter and the lead swelled to 55-40 on an alert buzzer beater by junior Nolan Smith.
While the free throw shooting wasn’t particularly stellar, its was good enough to keep Northpointe from cutting the deficit to single digits. Hopkins finished with a respectable 19-for-33 performance at the line.
Besides some pretty decent defense, the Vikings were blessed with excellent balanced scoring. No fewer than four scored in double figures.
Drew Weber, a sophomore, led the way with 15 points, Lewellyn and Zomerlei both had 13 and Colin Weber netted 12,
Grant Baker, who led the Mustangs’ ill-fated charge in the third quarter, finished with 14 points and Quentin Huckaby had 12. Northpointe is 10- 8 now overall.
Hopkins finished the season in the O-K Silver Conference with a record of 5-7.