Evergreen defeats Bryan, 77-72

The visiting Evergreen Vikings boys team came out tonight firing in the first half, led by strong shooting from 3-point territory.  Fueled by a 26-7 first quarter edge, and a 47-23 halftime lead, they withstood a furious Golden Bears comeback.  The final score was 77-72.  Bryan drops to 6-1 in the NWOAL, while Evergreen improves to 5-1, tied with Archbold and Wauseon a half-game out of first.

On Senior night, the boys Bears team could have clinched a share of the NWOAL crown with a victory on their home floor, and in the 4th quarter they looked primed to do just that.  The Bears had it to a one possession game late, but couldn't get any closer as the visitors salted the game away late.

Matt Brighton led a well-balanced Vikings scoring attack with a game high 20 points.  Cory Mossing contributed 17, while Dylan Henricks and Logan Pinkelman added 13 each.  Evergreen shot 54% from the floor, including 59% from 3-point range.  They also converted 17 of 27 from the charity stripe, as the Bears got in early foul trouble in the second half.

Austin Schimmoeller paced the Bears with 15 points, Sean Culler added 14, and Jordan Spiess had 12 in defeat.  The Bill's Locker Room III/GBSN player of the game was Jake Jones, who added a key 3 and was big in the Bears' comeback. 

Scores by quarter:

                    1       2     3       4      T
Evergreen    26     21     7     23     77
Bryan            7     16   22     27     72