FIRST HALF –
Tanner Giese provided the first basket of the game on a nice drive to the left side giving Crookston the early 2-0 lead. The Vikings responded with a 5-0 run before a Caden Boike three tied the game back up at 5-5. The Vikings would start to make their outside shots after starting ice cold and extended their lead to 12-6 after a made three-pointer. after another Vikings bucket, Ryan Abeld would knock down the second Pirate three-pointer of the half to cut the deficit to 14-9 with around ten minutes remaining. The Vikings would take over for the remainder of the half going on a 16-0 run over the next six minutes to take a commanding 30-9 lead to force a Pirates timeout with 3:27 until halftime. Pelican Rapids was able to take advantage of Pirates turnovers and turn them into transition points. Crookston finally put an end to the run with a Michael Deng and one at the rim coming out of the timeout. It ended a six-minute scoring drought for the Pirates. More turnovers would plague Crookston and Pelican Rapids would capitalize building a 34-15 lead with one last possession in the half. The Vikings would take advantage of their final possession and sink a three at the buzzer to take a 37-15 lead into the halftime break. Leading the way for Crookston in the first half was Michael Deng with 5 points off the bench. Pelican Rapids was extremely balanced with eight different players scoring.
SECOND HALF –
The Vikings got the first basket in the second half but Hunter Nicholas would respond grabbing an offensive rebound and laying it in for two. The Pirates offense continued to struggle to find a rhythm and after a min 5-0 Vikings run Crookston would take a timeout trailing 44-17 with 14:34 left to play. Coming off the timeout Nicholas would add another layup, but the lead slowly continued building for the Vikings until they forced another Pirates timeout with 11:53 on the clock and a 50-21 lead. The lead never got closer the rest of the game but the Pirates did have some bright spots with Hunter Nicholas scoring 12 second-half points, Tanner Giese knocking down a couple of shots, and George Widman scoring a point off the bench as well. The Vikings continued to score as well, however and used their balance attack to put up 78 points in a 78-42 victory.
Crookston falls to 0-2 on the season and will play at Warroad on Friday night. You can hear the game on KROX starting with the RiverView Health pregame show at 5:30 p.m. with the tipoff to follow at 6:00 p.m. Pelican Rapids improves to 2-0 on the year with the win.
FOR PIRATES COACH GREG GARMEN’S COMMENTS, CLICK BELOW
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|
1st
|
2nd
|
Final
|
| CROOKSTON | 15 | 27 | 42 |
| Pelican Rapids | 37 | 41 | 78 |
|
CROOKSTON
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Points
|
Rebounds
|
Assists/Steals
|
| Hunter Nicholas | 13 | 13 | 1 assist |
| Tanner Giese | 7 | 1 | 3 assists/3 steals |
| Ryan Abeld | 5 | 2 | 3 steals/1 assist |
| Reggie Winjum | 5 | 2 | 1 assist |
| Michael Deng | 5 | ||
| Caden Boike | 4 | 2 | 2 assists/1 steal |
| Tyler Michaelson | 2 | 1 | |
| George Widman | 1 | 1 assist |
|
For Pelican Rapids
|
Points
|
| Ian Fahje | 20 |
| Hunter Williams | 13 |
| Charlie Larson | 9 |
| Treyvon Benson | 8 |
| Tanner Tollerud | 7 |
| Jayden Ripley | 6 |
| Channing Russman | 5 |
| Miguel Torres | 4 |
| Brody Syverson | 3 |
| Brady Petznick | 2 |
| Tyden Marich | 1 |
