“POULSBO – The hottest team in the Olympic League stayed that way Tuesday, as the North Kitsap HIgh School Vikings defeated Olympic High School for their 11th win in a row. The Vikings won 80-51. The Trojans kept close in the first quarter with hot shooting, burying five three-pointers and building a seven-point lead. But the shooting grew colder for the Trojans, while the Vikings warmed up, eventually shooting more than 60 percent from the field for the entire game. We live and die by the three, Olympic Coach Robert Polk said after the game, We started missing them at the end of the first quarter, and never got back on track. For the opening half of the first quarter, though, it looked as if the Trojans could not be stopped. After Olympic’s Ernie Parsons launched and hit a three-pointer to open the scoring for the Trojans, the threes began to fall. Casey Manchester squared up and hit from beyond the arc. Then Parsons hit again. Then Manchester again. Then Parsons. Olympic built an early 17-10 lead behind the long-range shot, and led 22-17 going into the second quarter. But Olympic started missing, and North started hitting. With leading scorers Marc McNall and Bryan Haupt getting a rest on the bench, point guard Josh Mathews took over for the Vikings. Mathews floated a jumper in the lane that brought the Vikings within three; stole an inbounds pass, hit the jumper, and then made a free throw to tie the game; then drove and hit a layup to give the Vikings the lead, 24-22. Olympic briefly took the lead back when Geoff Kelstrup swished a three-pointer, but with their big guns back in the game, North regained and widened the lead with Haupt hitting a jump shot and Marc McNall landing a three-pointer of his own. North also got a big contribution from its bench, led by Brandon Cari. Cari, who has seen sparse playing time this year, made the most of the time Tuesday by shooting 5-of-8 from the field and scoring 10 points. North carried a 38-31 lead into the locker room at halftime. Olympic fought back in the second half. Parsons buried another three-pointer (one of his four on the night), and Manchester, who would lead the Trojans with 17, drove down the middle of the lane, hopped, and hit a layup. But the third quarter belonged to the Vikings, who scored 25 points to Olympic’s nine. North held a 23-point lead as the quarter ended, and carried on the scoring through the fourth, winning the game 80-51. The Vikings improved to 11-3 overall, while the Trojans fell to 7-9, 5-7 in league. After the game, North coach Bob Fronk praised his bench, especially Cari, Tanner Huger, Ty Hildebrand, and Clint Thomas. Fronk said they knew the Trojans would have a hot shooting streak at some point, and the key to surviving was being patient and aggressive with their zone defense. We knew going into the game they would shoot the ball that way, he said. It’s just a matter of keeping the faith. (North Kitsap (80) McNall 17, Haupt 17, Mathews 11, Cari 8, Thomas 8, Gonzales 7, Huget 4, Hildebrand 2, Jordan 2, Reed 2) (Olympic (51) Manchester 17, Parsons 14, Lambert 6, Ackley 5, Kelstrup 5, Rowson 2, Fry 2) NOTES: Marc McNall and Bryan Haupt each led the Vikings with 17 points; McNall also had eight assists. Manchester led the Trojans with 17, while Parsons chipped in with 14. “