The Pelican Rapids Vikings outrebounded the Crookston Pirate Boys Basketball team by a large margin and forced over 20 turnovers as they cruised to an 81-52 victory in a game played in Crookston. “We didn’t rebound like we need to,” said Pirate Coach Greg Garmen. “We didn’t get many second-chance opportunities on the offensive end and we need to figure that out.”
FIRST HALF –
Pelican Rapids came out strong with a three-pointer from Timmy Guler, which he followed up with a free throw on the next possession for a 4-0 lead. Crookston’s Jacob Hesby stopped the run with a basket almost two minutes into the game. The Viking’s Guler continued to have the hot hand early as he answered with a three-pointer before Crookston’s Garmen added a basket to get within a 7-4 deficit. It was at this point in the game that Pelican Rapids opened up a big lead by going on a 14-3 run over a four-minute span to take a 21-7 lead with 10:18 left in the half. Isaac Thomforde stopped the Viking run with a three-pointer from the corner and Tanner Giese followed with another three and Crookston trailed 21-13 halfway through the half. “That was a good run for us,” said Coach Garmen. “We weren’t able to keep the runs that we had going and that hurt us tonight.” Pelican Rapids responded with a 10-1 run to build a 31-14 lead with six minutes left in the half. The teams played even the rest of the way and Pelican Rapids took a 44-28 lead into halftime. “We seemed to play better late in the half and we showed signs,” said Coach Garmen. “I thought the kids had a better effort than the Warren game last week. It didn’t help Pelican Rapids shot the ball well,”
SECOND HALF –
Pelican Rapids scored the first four points of the second half with baskets from Tanner Tollerud and Guler for a 48-31 lead before Crookston answered with back-to-back three-pointers from Jacob Hesby and Jack Garmen to get within a 48-34 deficit. “That was about as close as we got it in the second half,” said Coach Garmen. “We made some shots, but we couldn’t stop them on the glass and we turned the ball over too much.” Once again, Pelican Rapids had an answer and they continued to hit the offensive glass to get second, third, and fourth opportunities and went on an 8-0 run with four different players scoring for a 56-34 lead. Every time Crookston would have a mini-run, Pelican Rapids had an answer and they continued to pull away to take a 79-44 lead with 5:08 remaining to start the running clock. Pelican Rapids played all 13 players and cruised in the final five minutes to an 81-52 victory. “It was a little better effort tonight,” said Coach Garmen. “The boys are working hard, we just need to take care of the ball better and rebound a lot better.”
Crookston falls to 0-2 on the year and will host Warroad on Friday. Pelican Rapids improves to 1-0 on the year.
J.V. – Pelican Rapids won 67-29 C Squad – Pelican Rapids won 58-24
| 1st | 2nd | Final | |
| Pelican Rapids | 44 | 37 | 81 |
| CROOKSTON | 28 | 24 | 52 |
| For CROOKSTON | Points | Rebounds | Assists/Steals |
| Jack Garmen | 25 | 4 | 2 steals |
| Jacob Hesby | 9 | 3 | |
| Tanner Giese | 7 | 4 | 2 steals |
| Ryan Abeld | 5 | ||
| Isaac Thomforde | 3 | ||
| Hunter Nicholas | 3 | 4 |
| For Pelican Rapids | Points |
| Timmy Guler | 17 |
| Ian Fahje | 11 |
| Brayden Ecker | 10 |
| Hunter Williams | 10 |
| Tanner Tollerud | 9 |
| Chase Restad | 8 |
| Brady Pelznick | 6 |
| Justin Jacobson | 5 |
| Luke Sjolie | 3 |
| Jayden Ripley | 2 |
