The Crookston Pirate Boys Basketball team opened the game on an 11-3 run but were outscored 58-37 for the remainder of the game as the Stephen-Argyle Storm took down the Pirates by a score of 69-40 at the Crookston Sports Center on Monday night.
FIRST HALF
The first half began slowly, with the Pirates holding on to a slim 4-3 lead with just under 12 minutes to go in the first half, but then the Pirates began to get going, and they were led by Reggie Winjum, who scored a breakaway layup followed by a deep three-pointer, putting the Pirates up 9-3. The Pirates built the lead up to 11-3 on a bucket in the lane by Joshua Hesby, concluding an 11-0 run, but then the Storm scored 2 buckets to cut the lead down to 4, at 11-7, with just over 8 minutes to go. From there, neither team scored for roughly 3 and a half minutes, before the Storm got a bucked from Owen Widner, followed by a 3-point play from Jake Carlson to put the Storm up 12-11. Shay Setterholm then hit a mid-range shot to put Stephen-Argyle up 3, and their defense held tough, turning a turnover into a layup twice to go up 18-11, forcing a Crookston timeout. In the final 2:22, the Pirates broke a 7-minute scoring drought with 2 Winjum free throws, and Carter Fee followed with a 3-pointer to cut the lead to 5. In the final minute, the Storm got a 3 from Shay Setterholm and a bucker from Dylan Widner at the buzzer, giving the Storm their largest lead of the game to the half, at 26-16.
SECOND HALF
Unlike the first half, the offense was all clicking for Stephen-Argyle. Crookston’s Nolan Johnson picked up his 4th foul in the first minute of the half, and this incentivized the Storm to pound it inside relentlessly. Jake Carlson put together layups, three-point plays and floaters, and he helped pull the Storm ahead to a quick 39-21 lead. The defense kept playing lights out as well, as turnovers turned into easy layups for Shay Setterholm and the Widner brothers. Though the Pirates got 3-pointers from Carter Fee and Gunnar Groven, the Pirates found themselves down 58-32 with 6 minutes left, being outscored 32-16 in the half to this point. With 4:15 remaining, Anders Thompson hit a 3-pointer to put the Storm up 30, but Winjum answered right back with one of his own, making the score 63-36. The teams would then alternate buckets until the score became 67-40 with 1 minute to go. Stephen-Argyle got the last laugh with a Sammy Durand bucket with 14 seconds remaining, and the Storm were able to cruise to a 69-40 victory.
Crookston falls to 3-14 on the season and will take on Hawley on Thursday. Stephen-Argyle is now 14-6 on the year.
JV –
| 1st | 2nd | Final | |
| Stephen-Argyle | 26 | 43 | 69 |
| Crookston | 16 | 24 | 40 |
| For Crookston | Points | Rebounds | Misc. |
| Reggie Winjum | |||
| Carter Fee | |||
| Nolan Johnson | |||
| Beau Smith | |||
| Gunnar Groven |
| For Stephen-Argyle | Points |
