Basketball Preview: Park Rapids Panthers vs. Crookston Pirates
The Park Rapids Panthers will head out on the road to take on the Crookston Pirates at 7:30 p.m. on Monday. Hopefully Park Rapids is not getting complacent, as they presents a significant challenge as they come into the match much higher ranked than the Pirates in Minnesota (the Panthers are ranked 103rd, while the Pirates are ranked 338th).
Even though East Grand Forks scored an imposing 73 points on Friday, Park Rapids still came out on top. Park Rapids secured a 79-73 W over the Green Wave.
Multiple players turned in solid performances to lead Park Rapids to victory, but perhaps none more so than Ryan Carroll, who dropped a double-double on 26 points and 14 rebounds. As a matter of fact, that's the most points Carroll has scored all season. The team also got some help courtesy of Noah Larson, who scored 23 points along with six assists and three steals.
Meanwhile, Crookston's recent rough patch got a bit rougher on Friday after their third straight loss. Their tough 70-50 defeat to Warroad might stick with them for a while.
Park Rapids is on a roll lately: they've won ten of their last 12 matchups, which provided a nice bump to their 12-6 record this season. As for Crookston, they dropped their record down to 4-14 with that defeat, which was their 11th straight on the road dating back to last season.
Park Rapids strolled past the Pirates in their previous meeting back in February of 2023 by a score of 80-66. The rematch might be a little tougher for Park Rapids since the team won't have the home-court advantage this time around. We'll see if the change in venue makes a difference.
