PINE RIVER —Pine River-Backus’ Brady Raph posted 24 points for the No. 2 seeded Tigers as they beat the No. 7 seeded Verndale Pirates 69-59 in the Section 5-1A opening round Thursday, March 5.

Louis Bueckers added 18 points for the Tigers, who previously defeated the Pirates 74-52 Dec. 20.

Hunter Umland’s 22 points led Verndale and Brandon Greenwaldt tallied 13.

Verndale 23 36 -- 59

Pine River-Backus 24 45 -- 69

VERNDALE

Ben Brownlow 2, Dilan Orlando 7, Zak Olsson 2, Zach Brownlow 6, Brandon Greenwaldt 13, Hunter Umland 22, Jacob Ismil 5, Caden Elbert 2. FT 11-12 (92%). Overall: 3-22.

PINE RIVER-BACKUS

Champ Howard 8, Louis Bueckers 18, Brady Raph 24, Brady Bristow 7, Kyosuke Marcum 4, Evan Fenstermaker 4, Rian Struss 4. FT 18-30 (60%). Overall: 17-8. Next: vs. Belgrade-Brooten-Elrosa/Sebeka winner in Section 5-1A Quarterfinals at Wadena-Deer Creek High School 7:30 p.m. Saturday, March 7.

MLWR 75, Pillager 54

MOOSE LAKE — Pillager’s Ty Swenson tallied 15 points for the No. 7 seeded Huskies as they fell 75-54 to the No. 2 seeded Moose Lake-Willow River Rebels in the Section 7-2A opening round Thursday, March 5.

Carson VanVickle added 11 points for the Huskies and Griffin Decker nine.

ML-WR defeated Pillager 84-60 Dec. 6. The Rebels have won seven straight and 14 of their last 15 games.

ML-WR 50 -- 75

Pillager 26 -- 54

MOOSE LAKE-WILLOW RIVER

Sam Dewey 8, Brady Watrin 22, Mason Olson 36, Logan Orvedahl 8, Michael Olson 5. FT 9-12 (75%).

PILLAGER

Judah Beard 6, Carson VanVickle 11, Ty Swenson 15, Griffin Decker 9, Spencer Schaefer 6, Cole Hiltner 3, AJ Gratke 4. FT 6-10 (60%). . Overall: 16-10.

Pelican Rapids 72, Wadena-Deer Creek 54

PELICAN RAPIDS — Bereket Loer totaled 16 points and Payton Rondestvedt 15 for No. 6 Wadena-Deer Creek Wolverines as they fell 72-54 to the No. 3 Pelican Rapids Vikings in the Section 8-2A opening round Thursday, March 5

Cooper Folkestad added 13 rebounds for the Wolverines.

Pelican Rapids beat W-DC 74-57 Jan. 3. The Vikings have won nine of their last ten.

Pelican Rapids 40 32 -- 72

Wadena-Deer Creek 27 27-- 54

PELICAN RAPIDS

McHale Korf 26, Timmy Guler 5, Logan Fahje 15, Liam Sytsma 4, Jayden Rutherford 22. FG 23-45 (51%), FT 15-22 (68%). 3-point 11-22 (50%).

WADENA-DEER CREEK

Bereket Loer 16, Lucas Hinojos 10, Tony Kreklau 3, Aiden Larson 3, Payton Rondestvedt 15, Cooper Folkestad 7. FG 19-46 (41%), FT 6-13 (46%). 3-point 10-28 (35%). Overall: 16-11.