VCSU – Four Vikings scored in double figures Thursday night as the VCSU men’s basketball team opened its season with a 90-80 win over Brandon University.
 
Hunter Lyman’s monster double-double of 15 points and 19 rebounds highlighted a balanced Viking attack that shot 52 percent on the night.
 
Cayden Rickard made four 3-pointers and poured in 18 points to lead VCSU’s scoring attack. Rickard also dished out a team-high four assists. Lamar Grayson had 17 points and three assists off the bench, and Odier Olange went 7-for-11 shooting as he finished with 17 points and eight rebounds.
 
“I thought it was brand new, that would be the best way to describe tonight,” said VCSU head coach Ryan Montgomery, whose team has just 4 returners from last year’s squad. “We have a lot of new players with a lot of good talent, but we have to clean up some things.”
 
The Vikings led 48-41 after a back-and-forth first half that featured 14 lead changes. VCSU led by as many as 12 points early in the second half, but Brandon University would close the deficit to 73-71 with 8:17 remaining. VCSU responded and regained control with an 8-0 run that featured a 3-point play by Brandon Macharia and a 3-pointer from Rickard.
 
The Bobcats cut the Vikings lead to 84-80 with 2 minutes left, but the Viking defense did not allow a basket the rest of the way and VCSU made enough free throws to ice the victory.
 
VCSU shot 54 percent in the first half and 52 percent overall in the game (35-67). The Vikings were 7-for-21 on 3-pointers and shot 59 percent on free throws (13-22). Caden Grinde added nine points in his Vikings debut, and Brandon Macharia finished with seven points and six rebounds.
 
Brandon finished the game at 40 percent shooting overall (30-76), 35 percent on 3’s (13-37) and 70 percent at the line (7-10).
 
VCSU finished with 56 points in the paint and won the rebounding battle, highlighted by Lyman’s 19 boards.
 
“I don’t know if we can expect 19 all the time, but he’s just one of those guys that’s capable of doing that a lot of nights,” Montgomery said of Lyman. “This team is just a different build than the last few years. We’re going to have to continue to learn our strengths.”
 
Valley City State moves to 1-0 on the season. The Vikings and Bobcats will rematch Friday at 3 p.m. inside VCSU’s W.E. Osmon Fieldhouse.