The crowd at Friday's league challenge between the Pine River-Backus Tigers (Pine River, MN) and the host Bertha-Hewitt Bears (Bertha, MN), observed Pine River-Backus's basketball team knock off Bertha-Hewitt by a score of 69-59.

The Tigers (9-5) will now prepare for their challenge against Blackduck (Blackduck, MN). The Drakes come into the non-league challenge with a 2-11 record.

In their next game, the Bears encounter the Verndale Pirates (Verndale, MN) in a A Section 5 challenge, on Tuesday, January 21. Bertha-Hewitt will attempt to improve on its 2-9 season record. The Pirates come into the challenge with a 6-6 record after their 75-44 league win over Mille Lacs co-op [Isle/Onamia] (Isle, MN).