Eric Vinson | Special to the TimesLowndes guard Amyah Espanol (14) attacks the basket during a region game against Colquitt County Thursday at the Crimson Colosseum.

VALDOSTA – The Vikings used a familiar formula, aggressive defense and balanced scoring to get a win on Senior Night, beating Colquitt County 61-41 Thursday night.

With the win, the Vikings conclude region play with a 5-0 record.

Thanks to the wins, the senior-led Vikings were able to fully enjoy the festivities. The Vikings start three seniors, with three more coming off the bench. 

All three starting seniors are averaging double-digit points per game and all six provide key leadership on the court and in the locker room, as head coach Reshon Benjamin explained.

“They’re huge,” Benjamin said. “Everything from defense, to rebounding, to scoring, to setting up offense, to scoring, to leadership. They kind of carry of the load.”

JC Riley, the senior in the middle carries much of the load for the Vikings, leading them in scoring (12.0), rebounds (9.0) and blocks (1.5) per game.

Shooting guard Aaron Williams is another senior leader for the Vikings playing hard on both ends averaging 10.5 points and 2.3 steals per game. 

His brother, senior point guard J.J. Williams is the third senior to average double digits for the Vikings at 10.2. J.J. was also recently named ITG’s Georgia Athlete of the month, largely in part to his state-leading, mind-boggling 5.1 steals per game, to go along with his class 7A leading 5.3 assists per game.

“He has X-ray vision,” Benjamin said. “When he’s attacking the basket, he can see two or three steps ahead and you could see him pass guys open that might not look open, but he makes the right pass, the defense goes one way and all of a sudden it’s a wide-open basket.”

JJ finished with nine steals and six assists Thursday, setting the team up with easy looks and good offense all night, and all season.  

Senior forward Joseph Robinson also plays an important role coming off the bench as a defensive stopper for the Vikings. Forwards Jeremiah Moore and McLean Reagan round out the Vikings’ seniors, both providing energy in spot minutes off the bench. 

Even with a deep roster full of veteran leadership, the Vikings had to work for their fifth region win and be able to fully celebrate the win. The Packers came out ready for the Vikings and played a close, tough first quarter at the Crimson Colosseum. 

But in the second quarter, the Packers’ turnovers started to catch up with them. Senior point guard JJ Williams caped off a 9-0 run by poking the ball free and converting the fast-break lay on the other end, and that was pretty much the story of the second quarter.

As we always talk about almost every game, J.J. is the head of the snake,” Benjamin said. “He’s a one man press by himself. Yeah, nine steals, that’s crazy,” Benjamin said, at a rare loss for words at his senior guard’s defensive ability.

“We do a good job of taking teams out of what they want to do. A couple times they came across half court and they’re trying to run their offense at the half-court line because were picking them up defensively.”

That was key for the Vikings in the second quarter, where the Vikings outscored the Packers 22-8, building a lead that they rode to the victory.

Freshman Samuel Shoptaw came off the bench scored five quick points for the Vikings to make it 16-9 in the first couple minutes. 

Three minutes into the quarter and the Packers finally get on the board with a put-back off a JC Riley blocked shot, but by then the Vikings had pushed to lead to 11 using a 9-0 run to start the quarter. 

Unfortunately, Riley picked up his fourth foul pretty early in the third quarter, putting him on the bench until the fourth quarter, where he played about a minute before picking up his fifth.

“JC didn’t score a lot tonight, but he got all their bigs in foul trouble,” Benjamin said. “He had a stretch right there in the third where it was for quick fouls in a row that put us in the bonus.

“But Landon new stepped up, he hit some big shots and had about five or six big rebounds too.”

Everybody pitched in to close the now 5-16 Packers out, with five Vikings scoring in the fourth quarter. 

Shoptaw led the way with a big 3-pointer and a tough driving lay-up through traffic, as the Vikings outscored the Packers 14-16 in the final frame.

Shoptaw finished with 12 points, with a pair of threes. Aaron Williams led the way with 14 points, while JJ Williams and Demarcus Black both finished with 13. 

The Vikings’ last regular season game is Saturday at 7:30 p.m. at Valdosta High. Tickets must be purchased online, ahead of time.

 

Vikettes 46

Lady Packers 41

The Lowndes Vikettes also won a hard-fought battle against Colquitt County, 46-41.

It came down to hitting free throws late in the game for the Vikings to put away the Lady Packers (13-9). But head coach Antonia Tooke’s was pleased with the way the Vikettes were able to close the game. 

“They made some huge free throws, and all that comes from mental toughness,” Tookes said. “And my senior Kamya Williams came off the bench to get a huge rebound… We rebounded when we had to.”

Williams was one of three Vikette seniors celebrated on Thursday night. The others being guard Alaysha Williams and forward Gracie Brant. 

Midway through the fourth the Lady Packers cut the lead to five points, and then got it within four after a deep 3-ball from the Lady Packers leading scorer that game Carliss Johnson. 

But the Vikettes responded by running out the clock and knocking down the clutch free throws just like Coach Tookes mentioned.

The Vikings had built a ten-point lead in the third quarter thanks to six points from Vikettes leading scorer, Myah Espanol. However, the Lady Packers responded, closing the gap to two before Espanol pushed it back to four. 

“Myah Espanol Kept us in the game. She played just like she always does. She was huge for us tonight,” Tookes said. Myah averages 12.5 points per game on the season and scored 10 for the Vikettes Thursday night when points were hard to come by.

While the Vikettes defense played hard and was led by Espanol who averages 4.5 steals per game, there defensive rebounding was sloppy at times in the second half according to coach Tookes, but it was enough to win. 

“They got two and three chances sometimes when they shouldn’t have. Some missed assignments here and there, but for the most part, we rebounded when we needed to.”

But with the Vikettes top rebounder and one of the top ten rebounders in the state, junior center Otaifo Esenbhalu on the bench, Coach Tookes was impressed with their activity on the offensive glass. 

“That was impressive,” Tookes said. “With her [Otaifo] on the bench, Kamya came in and got huge rebounds, Myah Espanol got a couple. Ary [freshman guard Aryana Thomas] got one and got fouled late. So it was huge.”

According to Tookes, the Vikettes are playing some of their best basketball now, and with the post season right around the corner, that couldn’t be coming at a better time.

“I am so excited, I saw heart the game before and I saw mental toughness tonight,” Tookes said. “This is what you need to be a champion, heart and mental toughness. I am so proud of them.”