Hopkins is off to its best boys’ varsity basketball season in perhaps two decades, at least since the heady days of Tim Kisner.

The Vikings claimed their fourth victory this season without a loss Friday evening in a bruising 64-49 decision over visiting Allendale. Two of their triumphs thus far have been over teams they traditionally have had a lot of difficulty with — Allendale and Hamilton. Both contests were won in similar fashion in that Hopkins pulled away late and finally won by double-digit margins.

Coach Jake Jewitt’s lads have been able to combine decent size, plenty of tenacious defense, rebounding, crisp passing and enough outside shooting to subdue opponents.

Friday night’s first quarter was marked by an even battle, with Falcon guard Jeremy Wiersma nailing a couple of threes and Hopkins southpaw sophomore point guard Colin Weber slamming home a breakaway dunk. Hopkins owned only a two-point lead, 14-12, at the first break.

Then came one of two game-changing bursts. The Vikings held Allendale to just one basket, a layup by Isaac TerBeek, during the entire second period and mounted a 24-14 advantage at the half. Things could have been worse for the visiting quintet, except that the Vikings made only three of nine free throw attempts.

By intermission, the Weber boys, Drew and Colin, had combined to score more points, 18, than the entire team of Falcons, 14. Jeff, a burly junior, led the way with 10 points, including a couple of threes.

Allendale slowly climbed back into contention during the third quarter. Particularly disheartening for the Vikings was having possession of the ball with just 54 seconds left on the clock, stalling to secure a last shot, but turning the ball over and allowing Wiersma to score on a driving layup for a three-point play with just 2.4 seconds left.

So while Hopkins had enjoyed a double-digit lead since midway in the second period, the Falcons had pulled to within five, 38-33, as the final quarter began. They got even closer, sparked by high-scoring forward Bryce Nyboer, and crept to within four, 42-38.

Enter senior guard Tyler Zomerlei, who swished three consecutive unanswered three-bombs from the corner to turn a 42-38 nail-biter into a 51-38 comfortable cushion. It was all over for Allendale because of the Vikings’ crisp inside passes to senior guard Hunter Lewellyn for easy layups against the Falcon zone.

Zomerlei finished the evening with 19 points and was perfect at the free throw line. Drew Weber had 14 points, Colin Weber 13 and Lewellyn scored eight of his 10 points in the final eight minutes.

Nyboer netted 19 points for Allendale to share individual scoring honors. Wiersma chipped in 13.

Hopkins will attempt to make it five in a row

COVER PHOTO: Bryce Smith (12) looks for an opening in Allendale’s zone defense.