Greg Garmen has four players who are 3-point shooting threats. Just not always on the same night.
On Friday, Garmen’s Crookston High School boys basketball team connected on six 3-point shots. That was the big difference as the Pirates closed their regular season with a 50-36 win at East Grand Forks Senior High.
“We have some kids who can shoot,’’ Garmen said. “Two of our four shooters usually are on. We’d really be dangerous if we could get all four of them on on the same night.’’
On Friday, it was Chris Wavra with three treys, Matt Garmen with two and Patrick Deng with one. On the season, Wavra’s 74 treys lead the team, followed by Matt Garmen (56), Nick Garmen (46) and Deng (23).
“They’re a very good shooting team,’’ Green Wave coach Travis Lindgren said. “They have four guys who can knock down shots. That makes it tough to match up.’’
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The Green Wave, slowing the tempo with a deliberate style on offense in the first half, trailed only 15-12 at halftime. But Crookston hit four treys early in the second half, sparking the Pirates to a 31-21 lead. “They were timely tonight,’’ Garmen said of his team’s long-range baskets.
Crookston led by as many as 11, only to see Senior High rally to within 35-30 when Cole Hammargren hit a pull-up jumper from the wing with 6:27 remaining.
But Luke Froeber sandwiched a pair of inside baskets around a Wavra trey from the baseline to boost the Crookston lead up to 12. That started a 13-0 run as Crookston held Senior High scoreless over a stretch of six minutes and 4 seconds after Hammargren’s basket.
“We’ve had stretches like that before,’’ Lindgren said. “That’s not a new story for us.
“I was really pleased with our effort. That’s as hard as the guys have played all year. We only had nine turnovers. And we were getting good looks. The shots just weren’t falling.’’
Wavra’s 15 points led the Pirates, who closed the regular season with a 12-14 record. The 6-foot-4 Froeber had a double double with 10 points to go with 11 rebounds. Three of those were offensive boards that he converted into putback baskets.
Hammargren had 12 points to lead Senior High, which 8-18.
Senior High and Crookston both open play in the Section 8AA tournament with first-round games Thursday. Pairings are expected to be announced Saturday.
