After five games on the road, Red Lake is heading back home. They will take on the Pine River-Backus Tigers at 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday. Red Lake has been dominant on offense recently, as they've racked up an incredible 480 points over their last five contests.
Red Lake put the finishing touches on their eighth blowout victory of the season on Thursday. They claimed a resounding 100-58 victory over Blackduck on the road. Given Red Lake's advantage in MaxPreps' Minnesota basketball rankings (they are ranked 115th, while Blackduck is ranked 383rd), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.
Gerald Kingbird jr was his usual excellent self, scoring 37 points along with five assists and four steals. Kingbird jr is absolutely dominating the point category: he's posted at least 15 every time he's taken the court this season. The team also got some help courtesy of Tyrone Beaulieu Jr, who scored 18 points along with eight rebounds and seven steals.
Meanwhile, Pine River-Backus' recent rough patch got a bit rougher on Thursday after their third straight loss. The game between Pine River-Backus and Walker-Hackensack-Akeley wasn't particularly close, with Pine River-Backus falling 53-36.
Red Lake's win was their seventh straight on the road, which pushed their record up to 11-3. Those good results were due in large part to their offensive dominance across that stretch, as they averaged 99.0 points per game. As for Pine River-Backus, they have traveled a rocky road recently, as they've lost six of their last seven games, which put a noticeable dent in their 3-9 record this season.
Things could have been worse for Red Lake, but things could have been a whole lot better as they took a 68-50 loss to Pine River-Backus when the teams last played back in February of 2023. Can Red Lake avenge their loss or is history doomed to repeat itself? We'll find out soon enough.
