TRF RUNS PAST THE CROOKSTON PIRATE BOYS BASKETBALL TEAM

The Crookston Pirate Boys Basketball team had two big scoring droughts and that proved to be costly as they lost to the Thief River Falls Prowlers in a Section 8AA game played at the Lincoln High School gymnasium in Thief River Falls.

FIRST HALF
Thief River Falls took a 6-2 lead to start the game, with Caleb Rosendal scoring a basket after three Prowler offensive rebounds. After a Reggie Winjum basket, Tucker Kjos scored a basket after two offensive rebounds, and Rosendahl added another basket for the four-point lead. Crooskton’s Winjum stopped the run with a three-pointer, and Tyler Michaelson added two free throws to give the Pirates a 7-6 lead four minutes into the game. Thief River Falls answered with four straight points from Caden Rose for a 10-7 lead. The Prowlers had a 17-16 lead with 10 minutes left in the half when Winjum picked up his second foul of the game and sat the rest of the first half. It wasn’t a coincidence that Thief River Falls went on a 17-4 run led by seven points from Bridger Wilcox for a 34-20 lead. Crookston trailed 37-22 when Hunter Nicholas made a free throw before Michaelson grabbed an offensive rebound and scored, and Caden Boike made a three-pointer to cap a 6-0 run to bring the Pirates within a 39-28 deficit. The teams would exchange baskets in the final three minutes of the half, and Thief River Falls took a 44-34 lead into halftime. 

SECOND HALF
Crookston chipped away at the deficit to start the second half with a three-pointer from Michaelson and five points from Winjum to get within a 49-42 deficit five minutes into the half. Thief River Falls dominated the next three minutes and went on a 12-0 run with four different players scoring to take a 61-42 lead with 19:29 left in the game.
The teams exchanged baskets the rest of the way, and Crookston was able to get within a 69-52 deficit with 5:25 left. The Pirates were fouling the Prowlers and putting them at the line, and that proved effective because TRF struggled from the charity stripe, but Crookston struggled even more on the offensive end. Both teams went to the bench in the final minutes, and Thief River Falls won 85-63.

Crookston falls to 5-17 on the year and will travel to Erskine on Tuesday to take on Win-E-Mac. Thief River Falls improves to 7-14 on the year.
J.V. – Crookston won 57-47    C Squad – TRF won 54-31

CLICK HERE for Coach Greg Garmen’s post-game comments.