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Knights are Pelican Rapids Holiday Classic Champions

By Craig Olson, 12/31/21, 12:00AM CST

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The West Central Area Knights boys won a nail biter vs the host Pelican Rapids Vikings 50-48 on Thursday night to claim the Minnesota National Bank Holiday Classic championship in Pelican Rapids.  

After an early 7-7 tie, the Knights defense held the Vikings to only 7 more points the rest of the half to build a 25-14 lead.  The Knights led 46-37 with five minutes to play and had to withstand a Vikings run at the end of the game. Cole Anderson made 3-4 free throws in the last minute to preserve the win. The Vikings had a 3-point look at the buzzer that missed.

"What a great game," said Knights Coach Kraig Hunter.  "Hats off to Coach Gullingsrud and the Vikings for the way they compete. The defense in this game by both teams was outstanding.  The players on both teams played with intensity and both teams had to work for everything on the offensive end. We have a lot of respect for the Vikings.  We tell our kids in games like these, that every possession on both ends is important and we were able to make enough plays throughout the 36 minutes to have the lead at the end."

"You usually don't win the games win you get outrebounded and lose the turnover battle, but I feel the difference was the field goal % battle where we had a big advantage.  I felt our perimeter defense was so good tonight on their 3-point shooters. We held them to 2-19 from the 3-point line and 19-58 overall. Our kids had good awareness of their strengths and felt we did a great job containing them and contesting shots.  While on our end, even though we turned it over vs their aggressive trapping defenses occasionally, I felt we did a good job attacking it and getting into the lane and finishing and getting into the lane and drawing fouls getting to the free throw line."

The Knights shot 44% (17-39) compared to 33% for the Vikings and were able to get to the free throw line 22 times making 14.  The Vikings hit 8-12 free throws. The Vikings held a slight 37-33 edge on the boards and forced 15 Knights turnovers while turning it over 11 times themselves.  

Leaders for the Knights were Ryder Staples with 15 points, 8 rebounds, and 2 steals; Cole Anderson had 11 points, 3 rebounds, 2 assists, and 2 steals; Bryce Kjesbo had 7 points, 7 rebounds, and 2 steals; Cam Anderson had 7 points, 4 rebounds, and 2 assists; Jake Strunk had 5 points, a team high 8 rebounds, 2 steals, and an assist; Mitch Dewey had 5 points, 1 rebound, and 1 steal. Isaac Kreft had 2 rebounds, and Roman Mihailovschi had 1 steal.

Scoring for the Vikings were Hunter Williams 16, Tim Guler 13, Brayden Ecker 7, Ian Fahje 4, Peyton Blakeway 4, Tanner Tollerud 2, and Luke Solie 2.

“Offensively we struggled to make shots, especially in the first half when WCA was able to build a double digit lead,” said Pelican Rapids Head Coach John Gullingsrud. “Our defense was able to keep us in the game in the second half and we finally made a run late in the game to close the gap. We had a three at the buzzer to win it that wouldn't go down to cap a wild last couple of minutes. Our guys kept battling throughout the game tonight and we continue to be pleased with the effort they have played with so far this season.”

Battle Lake defeated Underwood in the 3rd place game.  Players named to the All-tournament team were Ryder Staples-WCA, Cole Anderson-WCA, Jacob Strunk-WCA, Hunter Williams- Pelican Rapids, and Tim Guler - Pelican Rapids.