Less than five minutes into Bigfork’s Jan. 18 game against St. Ignatius, senior point guard Anders Epperly dished out his fifth assist of the night and, in doing so, broke Montana’s all-class career assists record.
Epperly finished the night with 12 assists in the Vikings 72-49 win to give him 699 in his four-year career, surpassing the 691 recorded by Randy Robinson of Kremlin-Gildford in the early 1990s, according the Montana High School Association’s online record book. Epperly has been at the controls of the Vikings during a remarkable four-year run of success that includes a Class B state championship in 2018 and 78-9 overall record.
The history-making play came with 3:20 remaining in the first quarter as Epperly found classmate Clayton Reichenbach for a 3-pointer to extend the Bigfork lead to 19-8. The expectant home crowd had been counting assists all night and gave Epperly a rousing ovation when the Vikings called timeout a few seconds later. The point guard showed little emotion in the moment but saluted the crowd during a post-game ceremony celebrating the record.
The 5-foot-10 Epperly is a two-time all-state selection on the hardwood and was an all-state quarterback for the Bigfork football team last fall.