The Crookston Pirate Boy’s Basketball team had an excellent start for the first two minutes of the game, but the East Grand Forks Green Wave dominated the rest in an 82-52 Section 8AA matchup at the EGF Senior High School gymnasium.
FIRST HALF –
East Grand Forks scored the first point of the game with a free throw before Crookston scored eight straight points with Jack Everett, in his first career varsity start, made a three-pointer, Ryan Abeld followed with a basket, and Reggie Winjum buried a three-pointer for an 8-1 lead two minutes into the game. Crookston had all heck break loose shortly after. They benched one starter for missing most of a team meeting in the morning. They had Isaac Thomforde pick up two fouls right away, so they were without two starters, and combined with the Green Wave ratcheting up the defensive pressure, it didn’t take long for the game to get out of hand. East Grand Forks responded with a 14-0 run, with three players (Damian Bushaw, Drew Carpenter, and Caleb Johnson scoring all the points for a 15-8 lead. Crookston’s Tanner Giese scored a basket to stop the run, and the teams would exchange baskets for several minutes as the Green Wave led 30-20 with six minutes left in the half. The Green Wave dominated the rest of the half by forcing turnovers and shooting a high percentage for a 51-32 lead at halftime.
SECOND HALF –
The second half had a good start for Crookston as Isaac Thomforde made a three-pointer, but East Grand Forks answered with a 7-0 run with a basket from Caleb Zejdlik and five points from a red-hot Austin Rusling for a 58-35 lead. EGF continued to pull away and led 75-38 halfway through the half, which started running time. The Green Wave, who had played 10 players already at this point, went deeper into the bench, played everybody on the bench, and coasted to an 82-52 victory.
Crookston drops to 5-8 on the year and will travel to Stephen-Argyle (Stephen) on Tuesday. East Grand Forks improves to 5-3 on the year.
COACH GREG GARMEN’S POST-GAME COMMENTS ARE BELOW –
Audio Player
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1st
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2nd
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Final
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CROOKSTON
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32 | 20 | 52 |
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EGF
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51 | 31 | 82 |
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For CROOKSTON
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Points
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Rebounds
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Assists/Steals
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| Tanner Giese | 13 | 2 | 2 steals |
| Reggie Winjum | 9 | 3 | 3 assists |
| Gavin Winger | 8 | ||
| Hunter Nicholas | 6 | 4 | |
| Caden Boike | 6 | 2 steals | |
| Isaac Thomforde | 3 | ||
| Jack Everett | 3 | ||
| Ryan Abeld | 2 |
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For EGF
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Points
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| Austin Rusling | 17 |
| Drew Carpenter | 13 |
| Caleb Johnson | 12 |
| Cooper Smith | 9 |
| Clyde Anderson | 9 |
| Damian Bushaw | 8 |
| Caleb Zejdlik | 7 |
| Brady Loer | 5 |
