PELICAN RAPIDS HOLDS ON TO BEAT PIRATE BOYS BASKETBALL IN SEASON OPENER

A late Crookston Pirate Boys Basketball team rally came up short as the Pelican Rapids Vikings held on to win 84-82 in a Section 8AA game and season opener played at the Crookston High School gymnasium.

FIRST HALF –
Crookston took a 2-0 lead on an Easton Tangquist basket, but Caden Osborn picked up his second foul (and second charge) of the game with 16:18 left in the half. “Caden getting into foul trouble changes the complexion of our team,” said Pirate Coach Greg Garmen. “That wasn’t the start that we were looking for, that is for sure. I told the guys that they have to adjust to the officiating and go to two-foot jump stops and we didn’t early.” The absence of the top returning scorer didn’t seem to bother the Pirates early on as they built an 8-4 lead with a three-pointer each from Brady Butt and Walker Winjum. Pelican Rapids answered with four straight points to tie the game at 8-8 and the game was tied again at 10 before Crookston scored five straight points with a Jack Garmen basket and a Tangquist three-pointer for a 15-10 lead. With Crookston leading 17-14, they took their largest lead of the first half on a three-pointer from Garmen and a basket by Carter Bruggeman for a 22-14 lead with 9:05 left in the half.
Pelican Rapids slowly chipped away at the deficit and trailed 26-23 when they went on a 10-0 run with four points coming directly off Viking steals for layups for a 33-26 lead with 4:15 remaining in the half. “We didn’t take very good care of the ball,” said Coach Garmen. “We have guys that can handle the ball, but we didn’t do it there.” Crookston made a mini-run to get with a four-point deficit before the Vikings countered with a 7-0 run to take a 40-29 lead with 66 seconds left in the half. Crookston finished the half with a much-needed three-pointer by Garmen and Pelican Rapids took a 40-32 lead into halftime. “That gave us a little momentum going into the half,” said Coach Garmen.

SECOND HALF
Pelican Rapids started the second half with a basket before Crookston rallied with a 14-2 run that started with a Winjum layup after a beautiful pass from Caden Osborn. The Pirates followed with an offensive rebound and basket from Osborn, a Winjum basket, another Osborn basket to get within a 42-40 deficit. After a Pelican Rapids basket, Crookston finished the run with back-to-back three-pointers from Garmen and Winjum for a 46-44 lead with 13:32 left in the game. The teams were tied at 46, 48, 56, 58, and 60 before Pelican Rapids went on a 7-0 run. Crookston slowly chipped away at the deficit with an 11-4 run and after two free throws by Bruggeman, the game was tied at 71-71 with over three minutes to go in the game. The game was tied at 73 and Pelican Rapids had a 76-74 lead with 2:12 to go before they had back-to-back three-pointers from Jayden Rutherford, who had a game-high 25 points, for an 82-74 lead with 1:25 left. “The run started with us missing a free throw box out,” said Coach Garmen. “They ended up getting a three and followed with another three on the next possession and that seemed to be the difference.” Pelican Rapids missed a free throw before Jack Garmen rattled home a three-pointer for the Pirates. Pelican Rapids answered with two free throws before they missed the front end of the bonus with 46 seconds left. Winjum made another three-pointer with 39 seconds to go and after two missed Viking free throws, Crookston’s Brady Butt grabbed an offensive rebound and hit a shot as he was falling and fading backward to get within a two-point (84-82) deficit with 10 seconds remaining. The Pirates fouled again and Pelican Rapids missed two more free throws and Crookston, who didn’t have a time out left, got the ball to Bruggeman and his 12-foot jump shot was off the mark and Pelican Rapids held on for the 84-82 victory. “We didn’t have a time out so it was a little crazy at the end and Carter had a decent look,” said Coach Garmen. “We had balanced scoring and Walker had 23 points and that was nice to see. I didn’t think we would get 80 tonight, so that was good to see a lot of points scored and the kids were shooting well.”

Crookston drops to 0-1 on the season and will host Bagley on Tuesday. Pelican Rapids improves to 1-0 on the year.
J.V. – Pelican Rapids won 49-32 C Squad – Pelican Rapids won 39-25