ROSEAU RAMS PULL AWAY FOR A WIN OVER PIRATE BOYS BASKETBALL

The Roseau Rams used a 15-2 run halfway through the first half to take the lead and held off the Crookston Pirate Boys Basketball team the rest of the game for an 83-67 victory in a Section 8AA matchup played in Roseau.
Roseau started the game strong with baskets from Eric Hoffer and Jack Hirst for a 4-0 lead.  Crookston settled down and answered with a basket from Caden Osborn and a Walker Winjum three-pointer for a 5-4 lead a little over two minutes into the game.  Roseau regained the lead with two points apiece from Hoffer and Hirst and the teams went back and forth for a few minutes before Crookston’s Osborn recorded four more points and Jaden Lubarski added a free throw to give the Pirates their biggest lead of the game 17-13 halfway through the first half.  It was this point in the half that Roseau went on a 15-2 run behind Hoffer’s six points and Jacob Lindemann (a UND football recruit) added four points and the Rams led 28-19 with 5:10 left in the half.  “They were big enough to give us fits on the inside and we struggled to get rebounds,” said Pirate Coach Greg Garmen. “We had some costly turnovers and at one point we had three straight turnovers and that hurt us.”  Roseau ended the first half with an exclamation point when Hirst stole the ball at halfcourt and went in for a two-hand slam dunk and the Rams took a 36-27 lead into halftime.  “We needed to make some plays and take better care of the ball,” said Coach Garmen. “Unfortunately, we turned the ball over right before half and Hirst gave them a big spark for the big dunk.  In high school that gets the kids fired up.”
The start of the second half started fast and furious with 12 points in the first two minutes with each team scoring six points apiece.  Roseau, behind Hoffer, built a 16-point lead (56-40) with 11 minutes remaining in the game.  Crookston fought hard to get the deficit down to single digits and they were able to get within a nine-point deficit (72-65) with 2:23 remaining.  That is as close as the Pirates would get as Roseau hit their free throws in the final minutes and won the game 83-67.  Roseau’s Hoffer led all scorers with 35 points. “We tried several different defenders and we couldn’t find a way to keep him in front of us tonight,” said Coach Garmen. “He is a very good player and he played well today. I liked our effort today, but we need to do a better job of limiting teams to one shot as we move forward.”
Crookston drops to 3-4 on the year and they will take on East Grand Forks on Friday, January 4.  Roseau improves to 5-2 on the year.
J.V. – Roseau won 65-43