POPLAR GROVE — North Boone basketball coach Lennie Doetch put his depth to the test Friday in the Vikings’ 41-35 win over Rockford Lutheran.
Doetch played both his starting five and his second string effectively throughout, which powered North Boone to the home win.
“Our second string came in and held it down,” said Vikings starter Tyler Bielski, who had eight points. “That helped in our win.”
After an intense week of practice in preparing for Lutheran, Doetch decided that his second string — center Alex Biers, forward Jared Boehmke and guards Shaun Babcock, Christian Embry and Taboo Evans — had earned the opportunity to play some minutes against the Crusaders.
“All week we had been working on possession and making good, smart decisions,” Doetch said. “The second string had a really good week of practice and really challenged our starters. I told them all before the game they had earned the time to play.”
Doetch had the second string enter in the final two minutes of the first, second and third quarters.
“They gave our starters a break and that team played well together,” Doetch said. “They came in and did a phenomenal job.”
Boehmke scored his first basket of the season when he converted a 3-point play after he got fouled. His free-throw gave the Vikings (3-2) a 30-24 lead with 9.4 left in the third.
“That basket got the crowd going,” Boehmke said. “The second string had been practicing hard all week. This was my first real opportunity at playing time because I had been injured.”
The Crusaders (3-2) wouldn’t go away despite the Vikings’ depth. Lutheran tied it twice at 30 and again at 32 midway through the fourth.
Bielski’s assist to Kyle Garman gave the Vikings a 34-32 lead with 1:49 left. The Crusaders wouldn’t get any closer the rest of the way.
“This is a big win for us because it’s been a decent rivalry over the years between the schools,” Garman said. “It’s good that we were able to take it, especially at home.”
Jake Simmons led the Vikings with 10 points. Eric Widstrom scored 11 points and Nathan Green had 10 to lead the Crusaders.
- Brenda Young, rrstar.com
