The Crookston Pirate Boys Basketball team took advantage of a Bagley player fouling out and a Bagley fan getting kicked out as they went on a 16-2 run over the next six minutes and pulled away for a 70-48 victory over the Bagley Flyers in a game played in Crookston. The game was the last home game of the season for the Pirate boys. “It was nice as we got all the seniors in together at the end of the game,” said Pirate Coach Greg Garmen. “It was nice to get a win because we didn’t have many this year.”
FIRST HALF –
Crookston started the game on a 12-2 run. Jacob Hesby started the game with a jump shot, Jack Garmen added a free throw before Bagley scored a basket over two minutes into the game. The Pirates responded with a Hesby three-pointer, and six points from Garmen for the 10 point lead four minutes into the game. “That was a good start. The guys came out strong and got us going,” said Coach Garmen. “We didn’t out to many leads to start games this year, so that was good.”
Bagley settled down and responded with a 6-0 run with a basket from Conner Lien and four straight points from the speedy Alexander Jobe and the Flyers trailed 12-8. Garmen and Hesby combined for five points for a 17-8 lead. After a Bagley basket, Crookston responded with eight straight points with Hesby, Hunter Nicholas, scoring two points each, Garmen added a three-pointer and an Abeld free throw. Crookston led 28-15 with less than five minutes left in the half when Nicholas sparked a 7-0 run with a strong basket in the paint, Reggie Winjum added three points, and Abeld had a steal for a layup for a 35-15 lead with 2:20 left in the half. The teams exchanged points the rest of the way and Crookston took a 40-20 lead into halftime. “I thought we had a good team effort and played a good first half,” said Coach Garmen. “I thought we left a couple of their shooters open and we told the guys at halftime we wanted to improve on that in the second half.”
SECOND HALF –
Crookston had a 42-21 lead less than a minute into the half when Bagley went on a 10-0 run in a little over two minutes to get within a 42-31 deficit. Crookston’s Garmen stopped the run with five straight points, which proved to be big points at the time. Crookston led 53-34 when Alexander Jobe took over with seven straight points to bring Bagley within a 53-41 deficit with 9:30 left in the game. A while later Jobe picked up his fifth foul, with four of them coming on offensive charges. “We told the guys that he was coming in hard and to step in front and take a charge,” said Coach Garmen. “That was a big play because he is a difference-maker and is a very good player.” After the fifth foul, a Bagley fan came down to the floor and was yelling at the official and she got kicked out of the game. That seemed to bother/embarrass the Bagley players because Crookston went on a 16-2 run over the next six minutes. Garmen had nine points in the run, Isaac Thomforde added five and Hesby added a basket for a 69-43 lead with over two minutes remaining. Crookston held on to win 70-48. “It has been a tough year so that was good to get another win,” said Coach Garmen. “We will take a win.”
Crookston improves to 5-20 on the year and will wrap up the regular season at Ada-Borup-West in Ada on Friday night. The Pirates will start the playoffs on the road on Thursday, March 10 at either Pelican Rapids, Thief River Falls, or Hawley. Bagley ends the regular season with a 0-26 record and will likely be at Win-E-Mac in the Section 8A play-in game on Friday.
| 1st | 2nd | Final | |
| Bagley | 20 | 28 | 48 |
| CROOKSTON | 40 | 30 | 70 |
| For CROOKSTON | Points | Rebounds | Assists/Steals |
| Jack Garmen | 27 | 6 | 2 assists/2 steals |
| Jacob Hesby | 20 | 7 | 3 steals |
| Hunter Nicholas | 9 | 7 | |
| Ryan Abeld | 6 | 5 | 3 steals/2 assists |
| Isaac Thomforde | 5 | ||
| Reggie Winjum | 3 | 3 | 3 assists |
| For Bagley | Points |
| Alexander Jobe | 18 |
| Dylan Bergeson | 9 |
| Paul Ramsrud | 8 |
| Jackson Kaiser | 5 |
| Palmer Olson | 3 |
| Conner Lien | 2 |
| Jacob Anderson | 2 |
