A lot has happened in the last year, including a noticeable change at head coach for the Bigfork Vikings.
But one aspect has remained constant: success.
The Vikings are one of the hottest teams in Montana with a 19-1 record and the familiar look of a championship contender entering this week’s Western B Divisional Tournament at Flathead High School. Bigfork takes on Ronan at 11:20 a.m., Feb. 26, in the opening game of the three-day tournament. The top two teams will advance to the Class B state tournament, March 12-14 in Great Falls, where other title contenders will await, likely including Glasgow (19-1) and Choteau (20-0).
The Vikes rallied from a sloppy start last Saturday night against Thompson Falls to handily win the District 7B trophy once again, 60-43. Three players scored in double figures — Isaac Martel had 16, Adam Jordt scored 15 and Jon Landon added 10 — to highlight the team’s versatility.
There are no superstars here. Instead this lineup is loaded with skilled, smart, seasoned athletes who play as physical as a football team and as fast as a track squad.
“They’re long. They’re lengthy. They’re athletic. Their basketball IQ is through the roof,” said Jake Mickelson, head coach of Thompson Falls. “They know how to win games. And their intensity is hard to match. It really is. They’re stronger than every team they play.”
Bigfork has barely skipped a beat since winning the school’s first basketball championship last season and becoming the first western Montana team to win a Class B title in 26 years. Add together last year’s perfect 26-0 record, and the Vikes are 45-1 in the last 46 games. The only blemish on the team’s resume in that timespan is a loss to Class A defending state champ Columbia Falls in early January. That ended a 33-game win streak that was the sixth longest on record in state history, according to the Montana High School Association. The Vikes came back and dealt the Wildcats only their third defeat, winning 59-56 in Columbia Falls on Feb. 5.
“That ruined the streak we had, but we’ve come back pretty strong from that and we learned a lot,” said Landon, a junior forward averaging nearly 10 points per game during the regular season. “We learned we can’t let anything get past us. We have to take it one game at a time.”
Bigfork is no longer the surprise squad from a year ago. There are four returning starters and several key contributors from the title team, including Landon, Jordt, Martel, Ryder Trent and Josh Sandry. Martel, a senior, has shined as the team’s point guard, leading in scoring with 14 ppg and nearly five assists per game. Trent, a 6-1 senior forward, is the team’s sharp shooter from behind the arc and is averaging over 11 ppg. Sandry, a University of Montana football recruit and one of the best all-around athletes in the state, emerged last postseason to help lead the title pursuit, and this season he remains the team’s sparkplug. The 6-foot-2 guard is averaging nearly 13 ppg.
“All of us have been playing through everything we went through and now we’re so gelled and play great together,” Sandry said.
The team found itself abruptly shaken up shortly after last year’s title victory when first-year head coach Josh Downey announced he was stepping down to coach in Whitefish. Downey made his second surprise departure two months later when he submitted his letter of resignation to Whitefish High School, citing a lack of viable employment.
In Bigfork, the reigning champs were without a coach.
Enter Sam Tudor.
Tudor has taught in Bigfork the last four years and coached many of this year’s seniors as the junior varsity coach under Kurt Paulson two seasons ago. He has had other coaching stints in Lewistown, Havre, Great Falls and Seeley Lake.
Tudor took a year off from coaching last season but still frequented the games, sweeping the court for homes games.
“When the job opened I knew the kids were in a funk. That whole deal was tough on everybody. It was tough on the community,” he said. “I think a lot of coaches could’ve stepped into it and done just fine because the community has done such a good job of nurturing this program.”
Tudor’s contribution and role as head coach should not be undersold. Although he inherited a core group of championship players, he had a few missing pieces to fill. Bigfork graduated two sizeable talents from last year’s team — Christian Evans and Cam Nissen, a pair of 6-7 big men. Without those two, Bigfork’s overall size significantly shrunk, forcing Tudor to develop a new type of offense.
“This year it’s run and gun,” Landon said.
Indeed, Bigfork’s strength is in its speedy transition and stingy defense instead of relying on a slower half-court style.
“It’s a 180 from last year,” Tudor said. “They just scare me sometimes because they get going so fast, as a coach you’re watching them and it feels like they’re going to shoot themselves out of a game. But they don’t.”
Bigfork has showcased its ultimate abilities several times this season, rolling past Florence 72-49, sweeping Class A Whitefish and trouncing Class A Frenchtown, 70-43. The team has shown the nerves of a crew that can win close games, too, with the Columbia Falls victory, and a close matchup against Eureka that the boys pulled out, 61-56, on Jan. 23.
The true test will come this week at the divisional tournament and then potentially back at state.
“It’s nice to have that target on our backs,” Landon said. “Everyone is going after us and we can live up to that.”