Climax-Fisher run to end the game gives them a comeback win over Crookston Boys Basketball

The Climax-Fisher Knights trailed by as many as eight with 7:35 to go in the game, rallied on a 20-5 run, including a 9-0 to end the game as the Knights picked up an 81-74 win over the Crookston Pirates to spoil a 40-point game night for senior Reggie Winjum in a boys’ basketball game in Crookston.

FIRST HALF –
The two teams battled back and forth with numerous ties in the early go of the game with Climax-Fisher taking a 24-19 lead with seven and a half minutes to go in the half. For Crookston, it was all Reggie Winjum in the half, totally dominating the paint with drive after drive that the Knights couldn’t stop, and the 6’2 point guard slithered his way to 19 points in the first half, and Crookston regained the lead 31-20 with three minutes left. “We just didn’t have an answer for him,” said Climax-Fisher head coach Alex Wentzel. “He’s an outstanding athlete, and he owned the paint. We had to figure out how to stop him.”
The Knight’s Ty Torrence had 14 points in the first half, and sophomore Dustin Carl, playing tough inside, contributed nine points in the half and a bushel of rebounds. “We couldn’t stop number 40,” said Crookston head coach Bruce Erdmann, “He had his way in the first half. We had too many players standing around, either watching Reggie score each time down, or we were giving up too many rebounds.” The teams played even in the last three minutes, and it ended in a 41-41 tie as Branson Solheim hit a buzzer-beater for the Knights!!

SECOND HALF –
Both teams had little runs to start the second half, but Crookston built up a seven-point lead, 63-56, with nine and a half minutes left in the game. The Pirates Winjum continued his mastery on the floor in the second half with the same moves and some threes as well. Then
Senior Carter Fee, who had a couple of treys in the first half, hit a couple back-to-back in the second half. “We really had some problems,” said Coach Wentzel, “when we’d finally put some pressure on Winjum, then Carter Fee goes off, so it was picking your poison.”
Crookston looked like they had the game under control with seven minutes to go and a 69-61 lead. “I think we might have thought we were on our way to another win,” said Crookston coach Erdmann. “Generally, we are an unselfish team, but I thought we were a little bit selfish tonight. Climax-Fisher is a good team, and we had to go at them offensively and defensively.” The Knights did start chipping away at the Crookston lead, and with six minutes to go, Crookston turned the ball over, and a Knight outlet pass to Tyler Evitts, who beat everyone down court and threw down a slam dunk to get the Climax-Fisher players and fans excited as the Knights pulled within 69-65. Crookston still led 72-71 with about four and a half minutes left, and then Climax-Fisher took over, outscoring Crookston 10-2 in the last four minutes, including a huge three by the Knights’ leading scorer Torrence to salt it away with the final 81-74, with the Climax-Fisher Knights picking up the win on the road. “It was a nice win for the boys,” said Coach Wentzel, “Crookston played well, but we didn’t do much to stop Winjum or Fee, but we did shut down the others, which was huge.”
Climax-Fisher is now 6-7 on the season and will play tomorrow afternoon at Menahga. Menahga, like Crookston, is an AA school, which means a win for Climax-Fisher will get them more points for seeding at the end of the year. “I’ve told our team that, why do we always have to play in the pigtail games at tournament time? That’s our goal to not play in a pig-tail game and hopefully make a run in the playoffs.”

Crookston drops to 1-13 on the season, and they will play at a Section 8AA rival tomorrow afternoon, the Roseau Rams. “It’s a quick turnaround for our team,” said Coach Erdmann, “I hope Reggie can squeeze 20 hours of sleep out of a six-hour turnaround after the game he played tonight. In the locker room after the game, I asked Reggie in front of the team, would he rather score 40 points and a loss or score less and pick up a win. It took him a second to answer, picking up the win. So, give Climax-Fisher credit, and we’ll head to Roseau trying to pick up another win.” Roseau is 3-13 after a loss to Badger-Greenbush-Middle River tonight, The Rams are led by junior Jordan Borowicz, who is averaging 38 points per game and is a couple hundred points from scoring his 3,000th in his career. “Reggie is hopefully ready tomorrow to guard Borowicz,” said Erdmann, “he’s not very tall, but he is thick and uses that strength for points inside, and he’s a deadly shooter from the outside.”
JV –  Crookston won 20-13

1/1