Runnin’ Vikes stumble out of the gates at Skagit Valley Tournament

MOSES LAKE — The Big Bend Community College men’s basketball team opened their season this past weekend competing in the Skagit Valley Tournament in Mount Vernon. The Runnin’ Vikes finished the stretch 1-2 with a win over Peninsula Community College and losses to Portland and host Skagit.

One of Big Bend’s bright spots were the backcourt play of freshmen guards Koby Huerta (Covington, WA) and Christopher Hawkins (Las Vegas, NV).

During the weekend, Huerta totaled 47 points while picking up 5 rebounds, 8 assists, and 4 steals; while his backcourt partner Hawkins finished the tournament with 43 points, 10 rebounds, 11 assists, and 2 steals. The duo also combined for just five turnovers.

Freshman forward Miles Brown (Sandy, OR) also turned in a solid performance that included a double-double (12 points and 11 rebounds) against Peninsula in BBCC’s Saturday win.

The Vikings looked to finish the Tournament with a win on Sunday leading Skagit Valley by 12 points at the half; however, Big Bend managed just 24 total second-half points to Skagit’s 40 to take the loss.

“We played hard and with good energy,” said first-year Head Coach Mingo Scott. “Unfortunately, we also made some mistakes that young teams often do. Our goal this week is to maintain focus and fine-tune our execution and defensive rotations.”

The Runnin’ Vikes will travel to Spokane this weekend to compete in the Annual Bigfoot Classic Tournament facing Okanagan College (Friday at 3:30 p.m.), Portland CC (Saturday at 4 p.m.) and Whatcom CC (Sunday at noon).

The complete box scores from all of this weekend’s games here.