[score id=”42887″ align=”right”]In their third meeting with the cross-town rival B-CC Barons, the boys basketball team fell 55-47 in the second round of the playoffs.

With a sell-out crowd watching, the Vikes got off to quick 8-0 start by getting into the lane and finishing near the rim. Immediately following the 8-0 Viking run, the Barons went on an 12-0 run, using Vikings turnovers to create easy baskets.

“Playing in that atmosphere really embodied the idea of playoffs,” center Max Oppenheim said. “The noise created some challenges for us communicating on the court but we knew that it was going to be a factor all week.”

The Barons held a slim lead heading into the second quarter, as they were able to convert offensive rebounds into second chance points. Guard Riley Shaver kept the Vikings in the game in the second quarter, as he hit shots from the outside, including a four-point play near the end of the half.

At the end of a back and forth second quarter, the Barons led 27-21 going halftime.

After a quiet first half, guard Shaq Diboti-Lobe came alive in the third quarter. Diboti-Lobe hit three three-point shots in the third quarter, including a buzzer-beater to tie the game at 39.

“I knew that we needed to step it up in the second half,” he said. “And in the third quarter, we did.”

The Vikes took the lead early in the fourth quarter, but then lost it, as the Vikes struggled to corral defensive rebounds.

Once the Barons took the lead back, they held the ball on offense, running down the clock. The Baron lead slowly grew, forcing the Vikings to speed up their offense and take outside shots early in their possessions.

Diboti-Lobe finished with 21 points, which wasn’t enough for the Vikings, who went down 55-47.

“We had the momentum going into the fourth quarter, but unfortunately we couldn’t capitalize,” Oppenheim said. “After that we just slowly let the game slip through our fingers.”

The Barons will now play top-seeded Richard Montgomery in the regional semi-final.

The Vikings finished the season with a 13-11 record, but will go into next season with a lot of promise, as they will return Diboti-Lobe, and likely get injured guard Jake Kuhn back.

“It was a decent season even though we didn’t get the result we wanted. It was a good learning experience,” Diboti-Lobe said.