Long Prairie-Grey Eagle at Pine River-Backus

Recap

Pine River-Backus blew a 19-point first half lead but was able to prevail over the LPGE Thunder to start 2025 with a home victory.

After the Thunder hit back-to-back threes to start the game, the Tigers answered with a 19-2 run to grab a double-digit advantage. The lead peaked at 19 at 42-23 with just over a minute left in the half. LPGE foreshadowed the comeback with the final five points of the half to make it 42-28 heading into the locker room.

The Thunder struck quickly in the second half to cut the lead to eight at 42-34. The Tigers bounced back and pushed the lead back to 17 at 53-36, but then the shooting went cold for the PRB and the comeback was on. LPGE tied the game at 62 with 3:15 to play, but weren’t able to take advantage of some opportunities to grab the lead. PRB hit some key shots in the final couple minutes along with grabbing a couple huge steals to seal the win.

PRB was led by Tate Norman’s 26 points. Mason Nelson canned five from beyond the arc for all 15 of his points. Isaiah Downie had 14 and Isaiah Aulie pitched in 11.

The Tigers go to 5-3 overall and 4-1 in section 5A play. LPGE falls to 1-6 (1-1).