The Crookston Pirate Boy’s Basketball team had a 51-46 lead with just over eight minutes left in the game when Hunter Nicholas picked up his fourth foul, and two minutes later, the Pirates were down 54-51 to Norman County East/Ulen-Hitterdal. Crookston tied it at 54-54 with just over five minutes to go when the Titans Cole Bentley, who was playing with four fouls, made a strong move inside to score and was fouled by Nicholas, who picked up his fifth with 4:15 to go. Norman County East/Ulen-Hitterdal outscored the Pirates 14-6 the rest of the way to beat Crookston 68-60 at Crookston High School.
FIRST HALF –
Crookston jumped out to score the first six points and their biggest lead of the game, 12-2, a few minutes into the game. “We had a good start,” said Crookston head coach Greg Garmen.” The Titans started heating up a bit, particularly inside, with strong moves underneath by Cole Bentley, who had 13 points and numerous rebounds, and the Titans took their first lead at 17-16 with under eight minutes to go in the first half, “we were struggling a bit about halfway through the half,” said Garmen, “taking some bad shots, so we need to be more disciplined.” After being down by five points with under six minutes to go, Tanner Giese started heating up, first with a three-point play, and then at the end of the half, he heaved a long three-pointer that didn’t go, but he was fouled and sunk the three free throws to give the Pirates a 30-28 lead the half. “We were glad to have the lead at halftime,” said Garmen, “we made some nice plays but still turned over too many times and knew we’d have to clean that up in the second half.”
SECOND HALF –
Crookston jumped to a 35-30 lead in the second half when Reggie Winjum hit a long two, with just the toe touching the three-point line. The Titans kept coming and got it down to two points when Gavin Winger nailed a three, and Crookston led 42-37. The Pirates were up 51-46 when their big guy, Nicholas, picked up his fourth foul with just over eight minutes left. “That changed things for us,” said Garmen, “with Travis picking up his fourth, we had to take him out and needed somebody to step up and take that spot inside, but NCE/UH took advantage and scored some baskets inside to take the lead. It was 54-51 Titans as both their big’s scored inside, Bentley and Aidan Flaten. Crookston put Nicholas back in, and with 4:15 to go in the game, Bentley got a pass inside, did a reverse layup to score, and was fouled by Nicholas for his fifth foul and made the free throw, and it was 57-54 for the Titans. “We hit some baskets with Abeld getting another three but were unable to do anything inside, so it was on the perimeter and could get the shots,” said Garmen. When Bentley scored another one inside, NCE/UH was up 63-55, and the Pirates did get it down to 64-59 after a Giese basket, but Crookston ran out of time, and the Titans won 68-60. Giese had success in the first half driving the lane and drawing fouls, but the Titans closed that off in the second half, “they were probably used to him driving the lane, and they were getting some fouls, so they changed it,” said Garmen, “at times Tanner has to slow down a bit as he throws up some wild ones. This was certainly a game we could have won, but we must stay out of foul trouble. When Hunter is out of the game, we just haven’t been able to get help down low. Somebody has to step up.”
Crookston is now 3-4 on the season and will have three games next week, all on the road, Tuesday at Red Lake County, Thursday at Fosston, and a Section game on Saturday at Menahga. “Red Lake County and Fosston always play well, and I see where Fosston knocked off Fertile-Beltrami, so it’ll be a tough week with another three games the following week. Quite a way to start the New Year!”
Norman County East/Ulen-Hitterdal improves to 2-3 on the season, and they’ll have three games next week starting on Tuesday at Fergus Falls Hillcrest Lutheran Academy.
JV – Crookston won 55-51 C-Squad-NCE/UH won 41-39
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|
1st
|
2nd
|
Final
|
| NCE/U-H | 28 | 40 | 68 |
| CROOKSTON | 30 | 30 | 60 |
|
CROOKSTON
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Points
|
Rebounds
|
Assists/Steals
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| Hunter Nicholas | 16 | 9 | |
| Tanner Giese | 15 | 2 | 4 assists/2 steals |
| Ryan Abeld | 14 | 6 | 3 steals |
| Reggie Winjum | 8 | 4 | 2 assists |
| Gavin Winger | 5 | ||
| Isaac Thomforde | 2 | 3 |
|
For NCE/U-H
|
Points
|
| Cole Bentley | 23 |
| Aidan Flaten | 21 |
| Wyatt Crompton | 13 |
| Kaden Braseth | 5 |
| Reed Klemetson | 4 |
| Brock Fox | 2 |
