The East Grand Forks Green Wave Boys Basketball scored 58 first-half points and cruised the rest of the way for a 101-84 victory over the Crookston Pirate Boys Basketball team in a Section 8AA matchup played in East Grand Forks. “There was a lot of points scored and we didn’t play much defense,” said Crookston Pirate Head Coach Greg Garmen. “They go up and down and we didn’t have enough horses to keep up with them.”
The teams were tied at 2 and 4 to start the game and after an East Grand Forks free throw, Crookston took the led with back-to-back baskets by Caden Osborn and Nick Garmen for an 8-5 lead. EGF responded with back-to-back baskets by Sam Votava for a 9-8 lead with 14:30 left in the half. The back and forth game continued with three lead changes and Crookston led 13-12 after an Osborn three-point play with 14:15 left in the half. “It was a good game early,” said Coach Garmen. “Caden made a difference early on before he was in foul trouble.” EGF’s Jacob Anderson made a three-pointer to spark an 11-0 run with five different players scoring for a 23-13 lead with 11:21 remaining in the first half. “They get out and go and they have a lot of weapons,” said Coach Garmen. “We cannot find a way to get in front of people and turned it over a few times and we have to get tougher handling the ball.” Crookston chipped away at the deficit with back-to-back three-pointers from Nick Garmen and Osborn, but EGF’s Julian Benson scored four straight points to build the lead back to double-figures. Crookston’s Osborn had to sit because of foul trouble, but the Pirates only trailed 33-28 after a Walker Winjum three-pointer with 7:09 left in the half. The Green Wave answered with a 10-0 including a basket after a bench technical foul on Crookston and EGF led 43-28. Crookston couldn’t contain the Green Wave offense and trailed 58-39 at halftime. “We didn’t rebound and had guys standing and watching instead of going and boxing somebody out,” said Coach Garmen. “We have to be more physical and we’re not a physical team. We have to find a way to get more physical.”
In the second half, East Grand Forks led by 31 points (81-50) with about 11 minutes left in the game and it was shortly after (at 10:39 left) the Green Wave went to the bench. While EGF went to the bench, Crookston trailed 89-60 with six minutes left in the and Crookston kept their starters in (namely Osborn and Nick Garmen) and chipped away at the deficit. As Crookston chipped away with Osborn and Garmen scoring at will, East Grand Forks went deeper into the bench and played everybody with 14 of the 16 players scoring. Osborn and Garmen scored 66 of the Pirates’ 84 points, but the only question left in the game was if the Green Wave would score 100. EGF had 99 points and Jeremiah Haavig grabbed an offensive rebound and shot the ball and was fouled with 12.1 seconds left in the game. He made his first free throw and the crowd and Green Wave bench erupted as the scoreboard had 100 on it and Haavig made his second free throw and East Grand Forks won the game 101-84. “When they had 99 we were going to get the ball and hold for one shot, but we gave up a rebound and they were able to make the free throw,” said Coach Garmen. “Our kids know what they did and didn’t do and we had some tough passes and we need to handle the ball better.”
Crookston drops to 3-5 on the year and will have another tough test when the top team in the Section 8AA North subsection, Hawley Nuggets come to town on Tuesday. “If we don’t box out, (Jacob) Vetter and (Noah) Glad will have 100 boards each and it will be ugly,” said Coach Garmen. “They are bigger than East Side and it will be tough.” East Grand Forks improves to 7-1 on the year.
| 1st Half | 2nd Half | Final | |
| CROOKSTON | 39 | 45 | 84 |
| East Grand Forks | 58 | 43 | 101 |
| For Crookston | Points | Rebounds | Assists/Steals |
| Caden Osborn | 36 | 8 | 2 blocks |
| Nick Garmen | 30 | 6 | |
| Jaden Lubarski | 12 | 5 | 2 |
| Walker Winjum | 4 | 4 | 2 steals/2 assists |
| Jack Garmen | 2 |
| For East Grand Forks | Points |
| Julian Benson | 22 |
| Sam Votava | 16 |
| Nathan Willett | 15 |
| Colton Dauksavage | 14 |
| Tanner Campos | 10 |
| Josiah Gerls | 5 |
| Aaron Riddle | 4 |
| Tyler Aamodt | 4 |
| Jacob Anderson | 3 |
| Carter Vasek | 3 |
| Jeremiah Haavig | 2 |
| Josiah Stanislawski | 1 |
| Bryson Stastny | 1 |
| Nate Thompson | 1 |
