The Spartanburg Vikings moved to 4-6 in 2024-25 season on Wednesday night with a 69-65 victory over T.L. Hanna. The Vikings 17-6 run in the fourth quarter gave them their first lead of the game with two minutes remaining and helped secure the win. Let’s dive into my four points from Spartanburg’s impressive come from behind victory.
- Anyone Can Score – Tonight was the first time I had seen the Vikings play this season. The thing I loved the most was that anyone on the floor was a scoring threat. Obviously, there were players who took more shots and had more touches than others. However, every possession, unless it resulted in a turnover, was predicated on finding the hot hand and/or the best shot. Logan Norton was the leading scorer for Spartanburg, finishing the night with 17 points. He had a personal 8-2 run in the second quarter and hit a dagger three with 90 seconds remaining in the fourth. Johnston Abrams and Dylann Harris each had 15 and Kyler Jaggers had 9. Off the bench, Imri Logan was a huge spark in the second half with 9 points, while Keyvion Ferguson added 4 points that were crucial in the fourth quarter. Once it got late, anyone at any time was able to find a bucket for the Vikings.
- Patience is a Virtue– Continuing the last point, Spartanburg was able to find a lot of good looks because they chose to be patient. The Vikings had stretches tonight where they were both red hot and ice cold from outside. When they found themselves in those cold stretches, Spartanburg did a great job of moving the ball around and finding the best shot. This all started with the guards driving and kicking. The ability to limit some of Hanna’s big runs came from the awareness of Spartanburg’s shooters to give up the rock when they were not feeling it. The Vikings very well could have shot themselves out of the game but showed great feel to know when they were on and when they were not.
- Defense Delivered – The Vikings offense got red hot in the fourth quarter, but so did their defense. Hanna’s junior forward Lucas Wiersma had 21 points tonight and was probably the best player on the floor from either side. However, the Vikings were able to shut him down when the game started to tighten up late. Wiersma had four of the six fourth quarter points for T.L. Hanna. After he scored his last bucket of the night around the 3:00 mark in the fourth, the Yellow Jackets did not score again. The Vikings did a great job of generating on-ball pressure to force turnovers before Hanna could even get the ball to Wiersma. I know Coach Zac Rich may not be happy with his defense from the first 24 minutes tonight, but he should be ecstatic about the final eight minutes from his Vikings.
- Depth Decides Games – This is really what helped decide this game tonight. T.L. Hanna only brought nine games to play in this game. All nine appeared, but the Yellow Jackets ran a steady seven-man rotation for the majority of the game. Spartanburg played 10 different players and ran nine-man rotation. The Vikings were able to outlast the Yellow Jackets tonight because of their lack of depth. The big 17-6 run from the Vikings to end the game can be largely attributed to the fact that they had fresher legs, and it obviously showed.
