SYRACUSE -- Two things are certain after watching the Vikings completely control the Titans in Tuesday night's game: the Vikings are very tough to beat on the road, and the Titans looked very young as a team. Either way, Viewmont pulled away with yet another road win as they dominated the Titans 62-39. "We played very well in all aspects of the game," said Viewmont coach Jeff Emery. "I'm very happy with our win tonight." The Vikings came out of the gate looking a little sluggish, missing some easy shots and getting confused on offensive assignments, but their defense is what kept them in control. The Vikings only gave up five points in the quarter and played as well as Emery expected from his team. As the first half continued, so did their defense. "I expect us to play well on defense," said Emery. "That's what I tell the kids to do every game because you're going to have nights when you only shoot 35 or 40 percent from the field, but if you create turnovers and make the easy baskets you can still come out and win."

The Vikings stuck to their defensive efforts, and they woke up a little bit on offense as well. They started the second quarter with consecutive field goals by Michael Evans and Tommy Barrett.

They continued to shoot well in the quarter and made every rebound count on defense. They nearly matched their point total from the first quarter and more than doubled their lead 28-12 ending the half.

"The one thing I could take away from the first half was that we were patient on offense," said Emery.

"After the first quarter I told them they had to let the shots come to them, don't force anything. They did that and played well the rest of the game."

The second half began just as well for the Vikings as the first half, taking control of the ball on offense while crashing the boards on defense.

Though they scored only nine points in the quarter, they swarmed around every missed Syracuse shot and snagged every rebound they could. They held Syracuse to the same number of points, and kept their lead going into the fourth.

The montage of points started for both teams starting the fourth quarter. Whenever the Vikings scored, so would the Titans and visa versa.

But as defense wins games, the Vikings proved to be the better defensive team that night. Syracuse was able to put up nearly double the amount of points in the fourth quarter as they had the first three, but still fell short to the staunch defense of the Vikings.

"Syracuse is a tough team," said Emery after the game. "They match up well with us size-wise and they play a tough defense. They also have some Region victories and at one point I think they put up more than 70 points in a game.

"By no means are they easy. I give the team and (Syracuse Head Coach) Nelson a lot of credit for putting together a team that can play like that."

As for their defensive efforts, Emery couldn't be happier, especially after the tough loss they took to Davis Friday night. Emery credits the team, though, for not thinking about the loss, but rather, looking forward to the next game.

"It was tough for us to lose that game," he said. "I worried early that there might be some thoughts in the back of their minds about the Davis game, but they came out and proved otherwise. These kids are very resilient that way. I'm glad to take this win."

The Vikings are now 5-1 in region play and have that same record on the road. They have a two-game home stand beginning with Northridge Friday night, while the young Titans hit the road to take on Clearfield the same night.

sgillet@davisclipper.com