1 week Ago By Maxwell Marko
GRAND FORKS — It was a tale of two halves for Grand Forks Red River in a 73-65 win over Grand Forks Central on Friday in the Red River gym. In the opening 18 minutes, the Knights were able to get their perimeter shots to fall and a strong defense kept the Roughriders from attacking the interior. Then came a swarm in a matter of minutes in the second half.
ADVERTISEMENT It started with a fight to get to the hoop from Pearce Parks 15 minutes in. Then an emphatic dunk from Cameron Klefstad pushed the lead to just four. Soon after, a block and fastbreak score from Parks completed a 12-point comeback just after the halfway point.
The Roughriders would not trail again. “We tried to swing the ball and get it to the middle and get it to Pearce Parks. He took over offensively for us,” Red River coach Kirby Krefting said.
Parks rallied in the second half for 34 points — 27 of them coming in that second frame. Once the openings were there in the zone, Parks attacked the paint and even went 8-for-10 at the line. He was the momentum swing Red River needed.
“He’s our leader,” Krefting said of Parks. “You look to him when you need a bucket. You look to him and know you can rely on him getting to the rim or maybe him hitting from outside.
” His lone three on the night was a crucial one as far as the pace of play was concerned. With seven minutes to go, he sank one to push Red River back up by two possessions after Brooklan Bruce made one of his own to make it 55-52 Roughriders. While Parks was relatively quiet in the first half, Bruce made some loud shots on both sides of the intermission in his 29-point performance.
ADVERTISEMENT He started his day with back-to-back threes, which pushed the Knights out in front 15-11. In the late stages of the first half, he hit a three again to retake the lead 26-24. He followed up with a hard-earned two with the foul at the start of Central’s run to get out to a five-point lead before halftime.
“They do such a nice job offensively of penetrating to that middle and then kicking to their perimeter shooters. If they get a hot hand, they are a tough offensive team,” Krefting said. Bruce’s three field goals in the second half were all beyond the arc and he hit all three.
Once Red River was on a roll, the Riders were just as productive defensively as they were on offense. There was a four-minute stretch from seven to 11 minutes into the half where Red River held the Knights scoreless. After the halfway point, Central scored just 17 points compared to Red River’s 27.
Red River now extends its East Region record to 8-1 while Central drops to 2-7..
