Four Vikings scored in double figures Thursday night as the VCSU men's basketball team opened its season with a 90-80 win over Brandon University.
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Hunter Lyman's monster double-double of 15 points and 19 rebounds highlighted a balanced Viking attack that shot 52 percent on the night.
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Cayden Rickard made four 3-pointers and poured in 18 points to lead VCSU's scoring attack. Rickard also dished out a team-high four assists.
Lamar Grayson had 17 points and three assists off the bench, and
Odier Olange went 7-for-11 shooting as he finished with 17 points and eight rebounds.
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"I thought it was brand new, that would be the best way to describe tonight," said VCSU head coach
Ryan Montgomery, whose team has just 4 returners from last year's squad. "We have a lot of new players with a lot of good talent, but we have to clean up some things."
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The Vikings led 48-41 after a back-and-forth first half that featured 14 lead changes. VCSU led by as many as 12 points early in the second half, but Brandon University would close the deficit to 73-71 with 8:17 remaining. VCSU responded and regained control with an 8-0 run that featured a 3-point play by
Brandon Macharia and a 3-pointer from Rickard.
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The Bobcats cut the Vikings lead to 84-80 with 2 minutes left, but the Viking defense did not allow a basket the rest of the way and VCSU made enough free throws to ice the victory.
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VCSU shot 54 percent in the first half and 52 percent overall in the game (35-67). The Vikings were 7-for-21 on 3-pointers and shot 59 percent on free throws (13-22).
Caden Grinde added nine points in his Vikings debut, and
Brandon Macharia finished with seven points and six rebounds.
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Brandon finished the game at 40 percent shooting overall (30-76), 35 percent on 3's (13-37) and 70 percent at the line (7-10).
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VCSU finished with 56 points in the paint and won the rebounding battle, highlighted by Lyman's 19 boards.
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"I don't know if we can expect 19 all the time, but he's just one of those guys that's capable of doing that a lot of nights," Montgomery said of Lyman. "This team is just a different build than the last few years. We're going to have to continue to learn our strengths."
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Valley City State moves to 1-0 on the season. The Vikings and Bobcats will rematch Friday at 3 p.m. inside VCSU's W.E. Osmon Fieldhouse.
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