The Bagley Flyers built a 12-point lead midway through the first half and the Crookston Pirates Boys Basketball team couldn’t recover in a 69-51 loss in a Section 8AA game played in Bagley.
1st Half
Kenly Gordon opened the scoring driving down the right side of the lane for a layup to put the Flyers up 2-0. The Pirates would answer on a turn around shot off the glass from the left block by Carter Bruggeman to tie the game at 2-2 before Bagley went on a 11-2 run over the next five minutes to build a 13-4 lead. “They played in that zone defense until they were up by 20 points (in the second half),” said Pirates coach Greg Garmen. “We weren’t able to get much going driving to the basket and didn’t hit our outside shots. We only shot about 19 percent in the first half and I think we only had two rebounds making it tough.” The two teams would trade baskets before a three from Cole Derby put the Flyers ahead by twelve, 24-12, making their biggest lead of the first half. The Pirates closed two within eight at 28-20 with three minutes to go in the half but wouldn’t get another shot from the field to fall as the final Pirate points came on free throws from Walker Winjum. “We didn’t shot great but we’d start to close and then they’d step up defensively,” said Garmen. “However, defensively we weren’t too sharp allowing them to drive to the basket.” Bagley led 32-22 at the half.
2nd Half
Bagley came out swinging early in the second half as Alec Norum and Gordon each scored layups to push the Flyers lead to 36-22. The two teams traded baskets before back to back threes from Gordon and Justus Brtek put the Flyers up 49-31. The Pirates would answer with a basket from Jack Garmen and a three from Winjum to pull back within 13 at 49-36 11 minutes to play before foul trouble set in. Two Pirates would foul out as the Flyers put the game away with a 13-2 run over the next six minutes to take a 62-38. “We didn’t do a good job driving or defending the drive all day and Bagley did, just like in the first meeting,” said Garmen. “Unfortunately, we put that on tape with the playoffs coming up this week. Bagley also had good size inside and was able to outrebound us. We have another tough rebounding test with Ada coming up and have to both shoot better and battle better for rebounds.” Bagley’s largest lead would come with four minutes to play when Dante Frank hit two free throws to make it 66-40. Jacob Hesby would finish the game strong for the Pirates knocking in a trio of three-pointers as the Pirates closed the gap to 67-49. “Jacob had a nice finish,” said Garmen. “I told him too bad he couldn’t get those about ten minutes earlier. We just have to hit shots later in the game.” Derby would hit a pair of free throws for Bagley before the Pirates Karsten Isaacson got an offensive rebound and a putback to make the score 69-51. Jacob Miller got a late steal and drove to the basket put was unable to get a shot off before the horn as the Flyers picked up the 69-51 win.
The Pirates fall to 9-16 on the year and will wrap up the regular season with a game at home against Ada-Borup on Friday at 7:30 p.m. Bagley improves to 10-15 on the year.
| 1st | 2nd | Final | |
| CROOKSTON | 22 | 29 | 51 |
| Bagley | 32 | 37 | 69 |
| For Crookston | Points | Rebound | Steals/Assists |
| Walker Winjum | 15 | 3 | 2 |
| Jacob Hesby | 9 | 3 | 2 |
| Carter Bruggeman | 8 | ||
| Caden Osborn | 8 | 4 | 1 block |
| Jack Garmen | 4 | 3 | 4 |
| Easton Tangquist | 4 | 3 | 2 |
| Karsten Isaacson | 3 | 4 | 2 |
| For Bagley | Points |
| Kenly Gordon | 17 |
| Cole Derby | 14 |
| Justus Brtek | 10 |
| Jaxsyn Lewis | 10 |
| Alec Norum | 9 |
| Dante Frank | 6 |
| Zachary Anderson | 3 |
