The Sasakwa Vikings started their New Year off by hosting the Paden Pirates Tuesday night and protected their home court in both games.

The Lady Vikings started the evening off and pulled out a close victory with a final score of 62-52 (no stats were given).

The Sasakwa Vikings are ranked #13 in Class BI and took on the number 13th ranked Paden Pirates in Class BII.

The Vikings had a slow start to the game while the Pirates went on a 23-14 run in the first quarter. There were ten technicals called in the quarter as the game was plagued with them.

Sasakwa fired back in the second to close the gap with Josh Jones scoring 6 points from the field and was 3 of 5 from the free throw line.

The Vikings outscored the Pirates 18-13 but were still trailing by four points at the break.

Sasakwa Head Coach Chris Jones fired up his team at halftime and the Vikings dominated the third quarter. Sherman Mitchell scored 8 points in the frame and Jones scored 11 points with one of them being a three-point shot.

The Pirates could only rally up 10 points in the quarter as the Vikings stepped up their game.

The Vikings had taken a huge lead and never looked back in the final frame. The Viking defense muffled any chance of a comeback from the Pirates as Paden only rallied up two points in the quarter.

The Vikings slowed down their offense but managed a couple of three-point shots from Ayden Livesay and Boston Lowe to overcome a first half deficit. The Sasakawa Vikings win at home with a final score of 86-49.

Leading the way for the Vikings was Josh Jones with 26 points, one threepoint shot and was 13 of 18 from the free throw line. Sherman Mitchell had 13 points and was one of two from the line.

Nate Reed had 8 points on the evening.

Next up for Sasakwa is the Dibble Tournament this weekend.

The next home game is on the 13th against the New Lima Falcons.

The game is set to start at 6:30 p.m. with the Lady Vikings taking the court first, followed by the Vikings.