The Crookston Pirate Boys Basketball team played an excellent first half and trailed by six points at halftime, but the Dilworth-Glyndon-Felton Rebels started the second half on a 13-2 run and held on the rest of the way for a 71-51 victory in the first round of the Section 8AA Boys Basketball tournament played in Glyndon. “We played much better than we did when we played here in January,” said Crookston Coach Greg Garmen. “They boys played hard, but DGF is a very good team and is just bigger, faster, stronger.”
FIRST HALF –
DGF started strong with baskets from Ian Mickelson and Aiden Leach for a 4-0 lead two minutes into the game. Crookston’s first points of the game were scored when Walker Winjum made a three-pointer from the wing to bring the Pirates within a 4-3 deficit. The teams exchanged points for the next five or six minutes until DGF went on a 7-0 run to take a 20-12 lead halfway through the first half. DGF continued to hold a five to eight-point lead for the next eight minutes and took a 30-21 lead and things weren’t looking good for the Pirates. Crookston responded in fine fashion with back-to-back three-pointers by Carter Bruggeman and Winjum to get within a 30-27 deficit with 1:10 left in the half. “We finally gave Carter the green light after we told him he couldn’t shoot after the eighth game or so of the year,” said Coach Garmen. “It was nice to see him hit the shot and Walker had a nice night tonight.” DGF’s Jacob Strand countered with a wide-open three-pointer to give the Rebels a 33-27 lead going into halftime. “We executed our game plan well in the first half and played well,” said Coach Garmen. “The guys played hard, played solid defense and it was an all-around good first half.”
SECOND HALF –
DGF had a great start to the second half while taking care of several Pirate turnovers and went on a 13-2 run behind six straight points from Owen Leach for a 46-29 lead four minutes into the half. “We had to many turnovers in that stretch,” said Coach Garmen. Crookston stopped the run when Carter Bruggeman made a three-pointer, but DGF answered with four straight points to take a 49-32 lead. Crookston picked up the defensive pressure and forced the Rebels into several turnovers and the Pirates turned them into quick points with a Jack Garmen three-pointer, and back-to-back baskets from Carter Bruggeman and Caden Osborn to cap a 7-0 run to get within a 49-39 deficit with 10:25 left in the game. Every time Crookston seemed like they were going to get another run going DGF answered with a basket and the slowly pulled away the rest of the game to win 71-51. With about two minutes left in the game, Coach Garmen added a nice touch and put all five seniors that dressed out on the floor so they could finish out the season on the floor. “It wasn’t the way we wanted to end the floor but it was nice to get them all out on the floor at the end,” said Coach Garmen talking about the seniors. “Some played more than others, but they showed up and worked hard in practice and it was good group of seniors.”
Crookston ends the season with a record of 9-18 and will say goodbye to five seniors, Walker Winjum, Caden Osborn, Brady Butt, Cooper Brown, and Joseph Ramirez. “If we would have had the energy like we did tonight all season long, we would have had some more wins,” said Coach Garmen. “They made a lot of memories this year and it was a great group of guys.” DGF improves to 21-6 on the year and will play Pelican Rapids on Saturday in the Section 8AA quarterfinals.
| 1st | 2nd | Final | |
| CROOKSTON | 27 | 24 | 51 |
| DGF | 33 | 38 | 71 |
| For Crookston | Points | Rebound | Steals/Assists |
| Easton Tangquist | 13 | 3 | 3 assists |
| Caden Osborn | 12 | 9 | 2 assists |
| Walker Winjum | 11 | 11 | 3 assists |
| Carter Bruggeman | 10 | 3 steals | |
| Jack Garmen | 5 | 2 |
| For DGF | Points |
| Owen Leach | 22 |
| Aiden Leach | 15 |
| Ian Mickelson | 10 |
| Jacob Strand | 9 |
| Justin Wang | 7 |
| Colby Schreiber | 5 |
| Logan Bittker | 4 |
| Drew Coalwell | 2 |
