#2 Red Lake County uses defense to beat Crookston Boys Basketball

The #2-ranked Red Lake County Rebels used suffocating defense and several runs to beat the Crookston Pirate Boys Basketball team 65-40 at the Crookston High School gymnasium.

FIRST HALF –
Red Lake County had a solid start, using outstanding defense to build a 10-2 lead five minutes into the game. Ethan Johnson had five points, Ben Gullingsrud had three, and Gunnar Halverson had a basket. Crookston stopped the run with a Josh Hesby basket before Red Lake County’s Connor Duden (a Bemidji State commit) converted a three-point play to spark a 9-0 run to take a 21-4 lead halfway through the half.
Red Lake County had a 25-7 lead when Crookston scored eight straight points with a Reggie Winjum basket and back-to-back three-pointers by Nolan Cassavant to get within a 25-15 deficit with 4:02 remaining. Red Lake County countered with 10 straight points, with Ethan Johnson scoring six. Duden and Will Gieseke added two points apiece for a 35-15 lead. Crookston’s Jacob Halverson made a three-pointer in the final seconds of the half, and the Rebels took a 35-18 lead into halftime.
Red Lake County was 15 of 18 from the free throw line in the half. Crookston was 1 of 5.

SECOND HALF –
Crookston’s Cassavant scored the first basket of the second half, but Red Lake County answered with nine straight points with four points from Gullingsrud, three points from Duden, and two points from Ethan Johnson for a 44-20 lead. The teams played even for the rest of the game, as Red Lake County went to the bench early and got everyone in. Crookston trailed 53-28 halfway through the half when Red Lake County scored six points, with four scored by Ethan Johnson. Crookston countered with eight straight points to get within a 59-36 deficit. The back-and-forth continued in the final minutes of the game, Crookston’s Beau Smith scored five points, and Red Lake County held on for a 65-40 victory.

Crookston drops to 0-10 on the year and will travel to Glyndon on Monday to take on Dilworth-Glyndon-Felton. Red Lake County improves to 12-0 on the year and will take on Nevis on Saturday at Bemidji State at 7:30 p.m.

Click above to listen to RLC Coach Steve Philion’s comments

Click above to listen to Crookston Coach Erdmann’s comments

	1st	2nd	Final
Red Lake County	35	30	65
Crookston	18	22	40

For Crookston	Points	Rebounds	Misc.
Nolan Cassavant	12	3	3 steals
Beau Smith	9	2	2 steals
Reggie Winjum	7	4	1 steal/1 assist
Jacob Halvorson	4
Nolan Johnson	4	5	2 steals/1 assist
Carter Fee	2	6	1 block
Josh Hesby	2	3