The Vikings led 26-24 at the half and also received 13 points from Eli Sytsma and 10 from Jayden Rutherford. 

Rothsay's Tanner Tollerud had a team high 14 points and had 8 rebounds, while Parker Keep scored 12 points and grabbed 9 rebounds. 

Pelican Rapids improves to 1-1 on the season while Rothsay drops to 0-1. 

"This was another defensive battle for our guys to start the season as Rothsay really made it tough for us to find any offensive rhythm," Pelican Rapids head coach John Gullingsrud stated. "Fortunately, we hung in there when our offense struggled and still played hard on the defensive end to give ourselves a chance in this one. We improved from our late game struggles in our first game and did a much better job of holding the lead down the stretch in the second half tonight."

Rothsay will host Mahnomen/Waubun at 3:00pm Saturday in the Bill Rose Gymnasium, while Pelican Rapids is off until Tuesday when they travel to Glyndon to face DGF.