ROSEAU SCORES 52 SECOND HALF POINTS TO BEAT CROOKSTON BOYS BASKETBALL

The Roseau Rams hit their free throws down the stretch as they held on the beat the Crookston Pirate Boy’s Basketball team 75-65 in a Section 8AA game played at the Crookston High School gymnasium.  

FIRST HALF –
Crookston scored the first points of the game on a Brooks Butt basket before Roseau responded with a 7-0 run with a basket from Peter VandeWege and five straight points from Jeremiah Bender.  “We didn’t have a good start and didn’t shoot well early,” said Pirate Coach Greg Garmen.  Crookston stopped the Ram run with a Jack Garmen three-pointer to get with a 7-5 deficit a little over two minutes into the game.  The scoring dropped off the rest of the half, and with Roseau leading 11-7, Crookston went on a 6-0 run behind Garmen’s four points and Tristan Luckow added a basket for 13-11 Pirates lead. “We kept battling and making plays,” said Coach Garmen. “We weren’t playing well and were still in the game, which was good.”  Roseau regained the lead with a Bender three-pointer and added a Jed Dunham three-point play.  A few seconds later Bender added two free throws for his 10th point of the game and Roseau led 19-13 with 7:22 left in the half.  Crookston battled back with back-to-back baskets from Easton Tangquist, but Roseau had an answer and they finished the half with a 23-18 lead.  “Roseau seemed to have an answer every time we made a run,” said Coach Garmen. 

SECOND HALF-
The offense picked up in the second half, or the defense struggled.  Whichever way you look at it, the teams had an exciting second half.  Crookston tried another rally early in the half with a Tangquist three-pointer, a Butt basket, and a Garmen basket to tie the game at 25 over two minutes into the half.  Roseau’s VandeWege made a three-pointer to stop the Pirate run, but Crookston’s Tangquist countered with back-to-back three-pointers for a 31-30 lead.  As they did all game long, Roseau had an answer.  This time Dunham went on a 7-2 run by himself and the Rams led 39-33. “I think that was the turning point,” said Coach Garmen.  Crookston couldn’t mount a comeback the rest of the half and Roseau made their free throws down the stretch and they were 18 of 25 from the free-throw line in the second half and they held on to win 75-65. “They hit a pile of free throws,” said Coach Garmen. “That definitely helped them hold on to the win.”  Roseau outscored Crookston 52-47 in the second half.   “We were slow in getting back on defense and they got a lot of easy baskets because we weren’t hustling,” said Coach Garmen. “We probably gave up five runouts for 10 points and that was the difference.”

Crookston drops to 0-2 on the year and will host Climax-Fisher on Thursday.  Roseau improves to 2-1 on the year.

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