The crowd at Friday's league challenge between the Pine River-Backus Tigers (Pine River, MN) and the visiting Verndale Pirates (Verndale, MN), observed Pine River-Backus's basketball team overwhelm Verndale by a score of 73-25.

The Tigers (8-3) will now prepare for their challenge against Long Prairie-Grey Eagle (Long Prairie, MN). The Thunder come into the A Section 5 challenge with a 4-5 record. In their last challenge, Long Prairie-Grey Eagle was routed by Ogilvie (Ogilvie, MN), 66-61, in a non-league challenge.

In their next game, the Pirates encounter the Mille Lacs co-op [Isle/Onamia] Huskies (Isle, MN) in a A Section 5 challenge, on Friday, January 3. Verndale will attempt to improve on its 1-7 season record. The Huskies come into the challenge with a 2-7 record after their 59-32 non-league loss to Spectrum (Elk River, MN).