The Community Vikings started fast and never looked back in their dominant District 9-AA win against the visiting sixth-ranked team in the state, Grundy County, 73-49, on Thursday.

Community was paced by another dominant outing from emerging star Landon Lovvorn with 31 points, including 17 in the first half. Austin Stickler and Landon Berman were the other two Vikings to end in double-figures, scoring 13 and 11 points respectively. Maki Fleming chipped in with nine points as well.

The story of the night, however, was the incredible defensive effort from the hosts on Class 2A Mr. Basketball contender Sam Parson, who struggled to find open shots all night and finished well below his season average with just 15 points. He was also the only Yellow Jacket to finish in double-digits, and Grundy County as a team only connected on five three-pointers. 

Lovvorn and his Vikings came out on fire offensively in the first eight minutes, ending the frame with 10 points and a 24-15 lead. Unfortunately for everyone in attendance, the officials decided to make the opening period borderline unwatchable, calling 12 fouls total - most of which were extremely ticky-tack calls that have been let go all season - resulting in 12 free throws combined.

As the second quarter began, the officials finally decided to back off and let the players play, and the hosts started to put the clamps on defensively. Community outscored Grundy 14-8 in the quarter, playing a box-and-one on Parson and trapping him extremely hard to make him give the ball up in every single pick-and-roll action. 

Parson, visibly frustrated, then started to force very difficult step-back threes, leading to long run-outs for the Vikings as they took a 38-23 lead into the halftime locker room.

It was more of the same in the second half with Lovvorn scoring 10 more points in the third quarter to lead the hosts to a 58-37 lead going into the final frame. Parson continued to struggle, unable to find any answers for Community’s zone defense. 

Even when he did find teammates open on the outside, their erratic shot forms allowed for the Vikings to contest on every shot and keep any single Yellow Jacket from getting an easy and comfortable catch-and-shoot opportunity on the outside.

In the fourth quarter, Community was able to empty the bench late in the 73-49 home drubbing of a team ranked in the top-10. This win guarantees no worse than third place for the Vikings in next week’s district tournament.

Grundy County falls to 17-5 (3-4) with a rematch against Community back in Grundy coming on Friday in the second night of a back-to-back.

Community improves to 12-13 (4-3) on the season and will head to Coalmont on Friday for a rematch with the Yellow Jackets.