Valley City State University – VC State ended the first half on a 13-2 run to then held off a late rally by Providence to down the Argos 88-80 in Frontier Conference Men’s basketball Saturday night at the Bubble.

The Vikings are now 5-9 overall and 1-8 in the Frontier Conference. Providence is 2-13 overall and 2-7 in the conference

The game was back and forth for most of the first half with six ties and six lead changes. Valley City State got off to a good start hitting four of their first five shots and six of ten to take a six-point lead. A three-pointer by Jaelyn Johnson gave the Vikings a 13-7 lead with 14:53 to go in the first half. The biggest lead for the Argos was two points. That came at the end of a 10-2 run when Marcus Lawson scored inside to give Providence a 17-15 lead with 11:20 to go in the first half. VCSU would go on a 9-0 run to retake the lead midway through the half. A driving layup off the glass by JR Cison capped the run and gave the Vikings a 24-17 lead with 9:41 to go in the first half.

Providence would battle back with a 14-6 run to regain the lead. A three-pointer by Jermaine Rogers II gave the Argos a 31-30 lead with 5:51 to go in the first half. The teams would play leapfrog over the next two minutes. After Jakub Lloyd tied the game at 36 with a easy two underneath with 3:52 to play in the half, the Vikings went on the game changing 13-2 run to end the half. The first nine of those points came unanswered for Valley City State. Taylor Bryant-Frey started the run when he would get fouled in the act of shooting a three-pointer. He would go to the free throw line and nail all three free throws to give the Vikings a 39-36 lead with 3:37 to play in the half. VCSU would hold the lead the rest of the game. Alex Lester capped the 9-0 run with an easy two off a nice assist from Cison to make it 45-36 VCSU with 1:44 to play in the half. They would lead 49-38 at the break.

The Vikings scored two quick baskets in the first minute of the second half to take a 15-point lead. Buckets by Lester and Joel Nelson made it 53-38 VCSU with 19:05 to go in the second half. The lead would reach 16 points on a couple of occasions in the second half. Logan Deal scored inside off another nice pass from Cison to make it 64-48 Vikings with 14:07 to go in the half. Deal would make two free throws to make it 72-56 VCSU with 10:19 to go in the half. That is when Providence began chipping away at the lead.

A 13-4 run by the Argos cut the lead to seven with 3:21 to play. A three-pointer by Kaleb Larson would push the lead back to ten before Rogers II would hit a three-pointer to make it 79-72 with 2:23 to go. That would be as close as the Argos would get the rest of the way. Larson and Cison would combine to score the last 14 points of the game to lead the Vikings to the 88-80 win.

Larson had a team high 22 points and added six rebounds. JR Cison scored 20 points and handed out a season best seven assists. Logan Deal had 16 points and 15 rebounds while Joel Nelson chipped in ten points. Taylor Bryant-Frey came off the bench to score eight points and Caden Grinde added five.

Up Next: The Vikings heads to Montana next week. Friday, they play Rocky Mountain College in Billings. Saturday, they head to Helena for a game with #15 Carroll College.