Bigfork Comes Back To Win Second Straight Class B Boys Basketball Title

It would be a battle of western conference teams to play for the Class B boys state championship with the Loyola Rams taking on the Bigfork Vikings in their fourth meeting of the season with the Vikings leading the series two games to one.

With the excitement of the opening ceremony it took the two teams a couple serieses to settle in to the game as both teams turned the ball over on their first posessions. It was free throws that would get the scoring going with Bigforks Anders Epperly going one for two at the line, but Loyola’s Jack Lincoln would go two for two on the next Ram posession. Loyola would then go on an 11-0 run over the next 3:45 before Bigfork was able to get on the board again with another Epperly free throw.

Running out to a 15-6 lead in the first quarter the Rams continued to press the ball to start the second quarter, putting the Vikings into foul trouble early. Down on the scoreboard the Vikings began to move the ball, finding the Reichenbach brothers on the post to get back in the game. Having put together a new approach to counter the Loyola defense the Vikings pulled within six to finish out the first half.

As they did in the first half Loyola came out aggressive offensively with Jacob Hollenback driving the ball and earning trips to the free throw line. Bigfork made their adjustments at the half time break as well and with 4:45 left in the third quarter the Vikings cut the lead to four points. With 2:15 left in the third quarter Bigfork’s Logan Gilliard tied the game at 30, and then the Vikings claimed the lead on the following possesion for the first time since the opening minutes of the game, Bigfork would then go on a 6-0 run.

Down 36-30 to statrt the final quarter of the game Loyola would go on a 5-0 run to make it a one point game, forcing Bigfork to take a timeout. The two teams would battle on the boards for the next three and half minutes until Epperly knocked down a three pointer to put Bigfork ahead by six. with under a minute left in the game th eRams pulled within two points of the Vikings, but Colton Reichenbach would knock down a pair of free throws to make put the Vikings back ahead by four to help Bigfork to their second straight state championship.