RICHLAND — Keeping the momentum.

That was the goal Friday night for Chandler Harker’s Vienna Eagle basketball team on the road in Pulaski County against Richland’s Bears.

Trailing 21-20 after one quarter, Vienna grabbed the momentum midway through the second quarter taking a 49-34 halftime lead before going on to a 79-61 victory giving Harker his first win has Vienna boys head basketball coach.

“I’m proud of our guys for playing hard tonight and getting us a win,” Harker said.

Early on, it was as if neither team wanted the lead.

Throughout the first quarter, Richland and Vienna exchanged the lead 14 times in addition to being tied four times.

Helping Vienna put 20 points on the board in the first quarter was Max Steffen (6), Alijah Mercer (5), Trey Snodgrass (4), Nathan Kleffner (3) and Spencer Magner (2).

Second-quarter action however belonged to the Eagles and Kleffner.

Accounting for 19 of Vienna’s 29 second-quarter points, Kleffner splashed home a half-court shot at the buzzer giving the Eagles 49-34 halftime lead and the definite momentum advantage going into the locker room.

“That was a huge shot Nathan (Kleffner) hit for us going into halftime,” Harker said.

That shot gave Kleffner 22 first-half points leading all scorers.

Leading by as much as 18 points in the third quarter, the Eagles played Richland in the third quarter to a 13-13 draw taking a 62-47 lead into the final eight minutes.

Edging the Bears 17-14 in the fourth quarter, Vienna went on to put their first notch in the win column of the 2020-21 season Friday night.

When the final horn sounded, Kleffner led four Eagles in double figures with a game-high 32 points. He made it a double double adding 10 rebounds, five assists and two steals to his impressive point total.

Snodgrass also joined the double double club with 12 points and 14 rebounds. Steffen also reached double figures with 11 points.

Mercer was Vienna’s fourth Eagle in double figures netting eight of his 10 points in the first half.

Magner just missed making it five Eagles in double figures finishing with nine points.

Janis Hubert added four points in addition to pulling down nine rebounds.

Danniel Casey added a third-quarter free throw for one point rounding out the Vienna scoring on the road Friday night against the Bears.

Richland was led by returning All-State player Veston Fearon with a team-high 26 points.

Noah Johnson also reached double figures for the Bears scoring 11 of his 14 points in the second half.

Daveton Fearon and Kaden Kardosz nearly helped the Bears also have four double-digit scorers finishing with nine points apiece.

Due to injuries for Richland, a junior-varsity game was not played Friday night.

Vienna’s JV Eagles opened their season Monday night at home against California’s Pintos.

“Our JV played well and we just lost a close game,” Harker said.

In varsity action against the Pintos Monday night, Vienna’s varsity Eagles picked up a 52-33 victory over the visitors from California.

No further information from the California games was available by press time. Those will be recapped in next week’s Maries County Advocate kicking off the month of December.