Basketball Recap: Parker Hunter's Big Game Can't Quite Lead Park Rapids over Central Cass

On Friday, the Park Rapids Panthers were within striking distance but couldn't close the gap as they fell 75-70 to the Central Cass Squirrels. Despite running the score up even higher than they did in their prior game on Thursday (66), the Panthers still had to take the loss.

Park Rapids lost despite a true team effort on offense. The best among them was Parker Hunter, who dropped a double-double with 23 points and 12 rebounds. With that strong performance, he is now averaging an impressive 15.3 points per game. Another player making a difference was Ryan Carroll, who almost dropped a double-double with 17 points and nine boards.

Park Rapids' defeat dropped their record down to 9-11. As for Central Cass, their win bumped their record up to 5-11.

Park Rapids and Central Cass could both be facing uphill battles in their next games considering their disadvantage in their respective state rankings. Park Rapids will challenge Pelican Rapids at 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday down 165 places (202 vs. 37). Similarly, Central Cass (ranked 51st) will meet Devils Lake (ranked second) at 6:00 p.m. on Saturday.