GUERNSEY – The Guernsey-Sunrise Vikings fell to the Niobrara County High School Tigers in a 74-49 match on Jan. 24. 

Tristan Hohnholt led the team with 19 points, while Caleb Christiansen closely followed with 18 points. 

It was a tale of two halves for the Vikings.

The first quarter saw the Vikings grab an early 16-11 lead, but the Tigers became their comeback in the second quarter.

By halftime time, the Tigers had taken a 24-23 lead going into the locker room.

The visitors exploded with 26 points in the third quarter and added 27 more in the fourth quarter, while limiting the Vikings to only 26 points for the entire second half.

“The Lusk game was two different games,” coach Steve Zimmerman said. “The first half, we played extremely well. We had great defense, the offense flowed, we controlled the boards and went into halftime with a lead. The second half was just the opposite. Lusk came out and increased the defensive pressure to a fast-paced frenzy. We did not handle the pressure; therefore, we did not run the offense very well and our defense was nonexistent against their up tempo. When the game was over, the Tigers ended up beating us by 28 points. The frenzy pace was one we could not match. When we needed to slow down the ball, we insisted on speeding it up and we paid the price.”

The loss drops the Vikings to 5-5 on the season. Guernsey returns to action at Rock River (3-8) on Friday. Action gets underway at 5:30 p.m.