The Thief River Falls Prowlers used two 11-0 runs in the second half to beat the Crookston Pirate Boys Basketball team 84-68 in a Section 8AA game played at the Crookston High School gymnasium.
FIRST HALF –
Thief River Falls jumped out to a 5-2 lead before Crookston countered with a 6-0 run. Tyler Michaelson made a basket and Hunter Nicholas had back-to-back offensive rebounds and baskets for an 8-5 Crookston lead. TRF’s Everett Nelson made a three-pointer and Caden Rose added a basket for a 10-8 lead. Crookston’s Michael Deng answered with a basket before the Prowler’s Bridger Wilcox scored. Crookston’s Michaelson buried a three-pointer for a 13-12 lead with 11:35 left in the half. TRF led 17-16 when they went on an 8-0 run behind four Everett Nelson points and two points each from Lucas Rantanen and Wilcox for a 25-16 lead. Crookston’s Matthew Contreras stopped the run with his second three-pointer of the game. The teams exchanged points the rest of the way and Thief River Falls led 40-35 at halftime.
SECOND HALF –
Crookston’s Nicholas made the first basket of the half and after a Prowler basket, Michaelson made a three-pointer to get the Pirates within a 42-40 deficit. Thief River Falls answered with an 11-0 run that started with a Rose basket. Wilcox followed with two free throws, Landon Wikert and Rose added baskets, forcing Crookston to call a timeout. After the break, Wilcoc made a three-pointer to cap the 11-0 run for a 53-40 lead with 11 minutes remaining. Crookston’s Nicholas grabbed an offensive rebound and converted an old-fashioned three-point play and the Pirates trailed 57-42. Thief River Falls went on another 11-0 run with the first nine points scored by Wilcox and the run was capped by two Everett Nelson free throws for a 68-45 lead. Crookston’s Nicholas converted a three-point play and after a Prowler three-pointer, the Pirates went on a 9-0 run led by four points from Nicholas to get Crookston within a 71-57 deficit with 5:14 to go. That is as close Crookston would get as Thief River Falls held on for an 84-68 victory.
Crookston drops to 5-16 on the year and will host Win-E-Mac on Tuesday at 4:30 p.m. Thief River Falls improves to 10-7 on the year.
J.V. – TRF won 55-47 C-Squad – TRF won 48-38
| 1st | 2nd | Final | |
| Thief River Falls | 40 | 44 | 84 |
| Crookston | 35 | 33 | 68 |
| For Crookston | Points | Rebounds | Steal/Assists |
| Hunter Nicholas | 28 | 13 | 1 steals/1 assist/1 block |
| Tyler Michaelson | 18 | 3 | 1 assist |
| Michael Deng | 7 | 3 | 4 assists/1 steal |
| Matt Contreras | 6 | 1 | 3 assists/1 steal |
| Zachariah Ali | 4 | 2 | |
| Rylan Lubarski | 3 | 2 | 1 assist |
| Jack Everett | 2 | 2 | 3 assists |
| For Theif River Falls | Points |
| Bridger Wilcox | 37 |
| Everett Nelson | 20 |
| Caden Rose | 8 |
| Wyatt Nelson | 5 |
| Landon Wikert | 4 |
| Lucas Rantanen | 4 |
| Gannon Zutz | 3 |
| Bradly Peters | 3 |
