HESBY’S CAREER HIGH 25 POINTS NOT ENOUGH IN PIRATE BOYS HOOPS LOSS TO WAO

The Crookston Pirate Boy’s Basketball team scored 40 second-half points, but the Warren-Alvarado-Oslo Ponies were able to hold off the Pirate comeback on their way to a 67-65 victory in a Saturday afternoon game at the Crookston High School gymnasium. Jacob Hesby made seven three-pointers (one shy of a school record) in the game and finished with a career-high 25 points. “Jacob had the hot hand tonight and he has been playing well for us,” said Coach Garmen. “He was making his shots and has shown signs and is shooting well lately.”

FIRST HALF
Warren-Alvarado-Oslo jumped out to a 4-0 lead with two baskets from their 6’6 sophomore Jackson Woinarowicz.  Crookston responded with five straight points with an Easton Tangquist three-pointer and a basket from Jack Garmen for a 5-4 lead two minutes into the game.  “It was a pretty good start,” said Pirate Coach Greg Garmen.  The Ponies answered with a six-point run of their own with two points each from Woinarowicz, Gavin Gullickson, and Tyson Mortimor for a 10-5 lead four minutes into the game.  The teams played even over the next seven minutes and after a Jack Garmen free throw, Crookston trailed 20-17 with 7:15 remaining in the half.  Warren-Alvarado-Oslo took advantage of four Pirate turnovers and turned them into easy points in a 12-0 run, led by Tyson Mortimor’s eight points for a 32-17 lead.  “They put a press on us and that caused some problems and forced us into some turnovers,” said Coach Garmen. “That run really hurt us and proved to probably be the difference in the game.”  Crookston’s Jacob Hebsy single-handily kept his team in the game by scoring 14 points in the first half while making four three-pointers and the Ponies took a 38-25 lead into halftime. “

SECOND HALF 
Crookston had a much better second half, on the offensive end, and they slowly chipped away at the Pony lead.  Jack Garmen made a three-pointer and Tristan Luckow followed with a three-point play to bring Crookston within a 46-40 deficit with 11:37 left in the game.  Warren-Alvarado-Oslo answered with seven straight points, six of them from Woinarowicz, for a 51-40 lead.  Crookston had an answer with Easton Tangquist scoring four straight points and Jack Garmen added a basket to get within a five-point deficit.  Crookston continued to battle back and with three minutes left in the game, Carter Bruggeman made two free throws and added a three-pointer on the next possession to bring the Pirates within a 62-61 deficit.  The Ponies Gullickson answered with a basket and Thomas Jones made a free throw for a 65-61 lead with 50 seconds left.  Bruggeman made another basket and Crookston trailed by two points, only to have WAO’s Gullickson make two free throws for a 67-63 lead with 36 seconds remaining.  With 19 seconds left, Tangquist made two free throws to bring Crookston within a 67-65 deficit.  Crookston fouled the Ponies and they missed two free throws.  Crookston was fouled with 6.2 seconds remaining, but they missed the front end of the bonus and the Ponies grabbed the rebound and were fouled with point-four seconds remaining in the game.  The Ponies missed both free throws again and Crookston’s Brooks Butt grabbed the rebound and his full-court shot was wide right and Warren-Alvarado-Oslo held on for the 67-65 victory.  “It was an interesting game and even though we were down 13 at halftime, I thought we were still in the game,” said Coach Garmen. “We struggled boxing out tonight and they had about three offensive rebounds just off of free throws.  We have to be better that way and be more physical.  I felt we had the effort and had a nice comeback, but we weren’t able to make that one big play in the final minutes, but we saw some good things in the second half from the guys.”   

Crookston drops to 2-12 on the year and will travel to Bagley on Tuesday for a varsity-only game at 4:00 p.m.  Warren-Alvarado-Oslo improves to 8-7 on the year.