Ironmen stay in contention
The race for the Northern Division championship includes four teams and may go down to the final game, and the Vermilion Ironmen are right in the thick of the race.After an overtime loss at Northland, the community college basketball team bounced back last week with decisive wins over Hibbing and Itasca, staying within a half-game of the leaders.Rainy River and Central Lakes also were in the thick of things as the race went into the final week.Vermilion, 13-10 overall, met Mesabi over the weekend and travels to Brainerd Saturday to take on Central Lakes in the division finale.The Ironmen have nearly wrapped up a top-four division finish and a berth in the state tournament, set for Feb. 25-27 at Minneapolis, but they could finish anywhere from first to fourth in the division, depending on the results of their last two games and contests affecting other division teams.Vermilion kept its title hopes alive on the strength of some long-range shooting and the rebounding of sophomore Jameel Koonce.Koonce, the division’s leading rebounder had 14 boards in an 82-63 win at Hibbing Tuesday and put together a 19-point, 16-rebound outing Thursday as the Ironmen downed visiting Itasca 80-65.The Ironmen drilled 16 three-pointers, five by sophomore guard Aaron Overby, against Hibbing. Overby and backcourt mate Anthony Anderson both had 19 points against the Cardinals. Freshman Gavin Erickson had a torrid second half, nailing four long-range bombs and winding up with 17 points for the night. Zach Smith hit three triples and added 14 points.The Ironmen led 47-37 at halftime, then pulled away as Erickson, Smith and Anderson launched a barrage of ‘threes’ in the second half.Corey Shepherd scored 19 points to lead Hibbing, which is coached by former Elyite Mike Turnbull.Itasca never got on track against the Ironmen, and VCC went on an 11-7 run to close out the first half and take a 47-27 lead at halftime.Koonce had 17 of his 19 points in the first half, and the Ironmen shot 55 percent from the floor through the first 20 minutes.Anderson hit three three-pointers and added 19 points for the winners. Overby finished with 15 points and Smith added 13. Tony Carlson, the only former Ely Timberwolf on the Vermilion roster, got into the game down the stretch and scored a basket.Former Tower-Soudan star Josh Quick had six points for Itasca.Despite five three-pointers from Overby and a game-high 28 points by Anderson, the Ironmen weren’t able to hold against Northland. The Pioneers won the Feb. 4 game at Thief River Falls 81-77 in overtime.Northland enjoyed a 26-14 edge in free throw attempts and relied on Cyrin Schaffer and Juwann Bowman, who combined for 47 ponts.Overby scored 23 and Koonce finished with 19 for the Ironmen.• Overby, a sophomore from Cleveland, leads the division in four categories: points (25.4 per game), three-point shooting (49.1 percent), free throw shooting (85.9 percent) and assists (7.3 per game. Koonce is first in rebounding (13.5 per game) while Anderson is second in scoring (21.5 per game) and first in steals (4.2 per game).
