Senior Matt Smith (right) handles the ball at mid-court. He finished the 30-point loss with three points.

The boys basketball ball team started the year with a pretty solid 2-2 start. After winning some and losing some they found their way on a long streak of home games, which could have been what the Vikings needed to get back on top. At one point their league record was good enough to be in the top four in the Sunflower League standings. The Vikings then looked at their schedule and saw some tough opponents coming, one which came with Olathe South.

The Falcons (11-2) and one of the top teams in the league traveled to Shawnee Mission West to meet up with the Vikings on February 8. The Falcons used numerous ways to stop us through out the game, the most dominating was their 3-4 court press they started out the game with. Olathe South has tremendous athleticism and definitely showed it during the game.

At the end of the first quarter the score was 22-8, the mood of the gym was depressing, there wasn’t a band and the crowd had lost interest. The Vikings ended the half 32-18 going into the locker room. Even though the Vikings lost the game by 30 there were a few positives. Looking at the box score, in the second and fourth quarter the Vikings were only outscored by five points. Also, the Vikings had point guard Mike Meier back after missing a few games with a concussion. He came off the bench and hit a three on his first shot.

Statistics-wise, senior Mitch Mansour ended the game with ten, Meier with five, and senior Matt Smith with three. The final score was 60-30. The Vikings need to learn from this and keep pushing to try to get to State.