DES MOINES, IOWA — The Vikings hosted Baker University for their final home game before the Thanksgiving break. The Baker Wildcats were picked to finish third in the Heart of America. As many as eleven points comforted the Vikings in the first half, but a second-half unanswered scoring surge by the Wildcats would eliminate the Vikings from the game, 94-67. 

The Vikings would put Baker in a tough spot early as they forced costly fouls on the Wildcats' starters, forcing them to turn to their bench. Grand View would take a 5-2 lead after Connor Robertson connected on a three-pointer. Both teams would struggle to score for over a minute around the media timeout; the Vikings built their most significant lead of the contest by the nine-minute mark after Jaxson Young hit a jumper to lead 22-14. Another three by Robertson brought the teams to a media timeout, where Baker trailed by nine. Jacob Koontz grabbed a lay-in for the Vikings with just under two minutes to send the Vikings to the locker room at halftime by only one point. 

Both teams would trade baskets in the early half of the final 20 minutes. Baker would find themselves on a 6-0 run by the fifteen-minute mark - Grand View would end their scoring drought with a dunk from Cecil Lee off of a pass from Koontz. In crucial moments, the Wildcats connected on 8-18 three-pointers in the 2nd half and outrebounded the Vikings 27-11 to finish the contest. 

The Vikings will travel to Lamoni, IA, on Tuesday for their first conference road test. The team will tip off against the Yellowjackets at 7:30 p.m. 

Team Notes

• The Vikings held Bakers' leading scorer to just four points in the first half. 
• Jacob Koontz was shy of another double-double with 15 points and nine rebounds.