The Pelican Rapids boys basketball team hosted Perham Jan. 20 in their fifth Heart O’ Lakes game of the season.

The offensive struggles continued for the Vikings as they found themselves down 30-8 at the half. Pelican Rapids was able to cut the lead to fifteen in the second half on a couple occasions, but could get no closer as Perham was able to win by a final score of 56-29.

Pelican boys at home twice this week this week.  The Pelican Rapids boys basketball team will host two games as Park Rapids comes to the Al Siegle Activities Center Tuesday, January 24 and Hawley will visit on Thursday, January 26. 

The loss puts the Vikings at 3-11 overall on the season and 1-4 in conference play.

“I was happy with our overall effort in this game,” stated head coach John Gullingsrud. “The problems offensively that we had on Tuesday night carried over into the first half of this game, and you just cannot give a good team like Perham that much of a lead going into halftime. We did improve offensively in the second half, so we are hoping that effort will continue into our games next week.”

Jacob Gottenborg led the way offensively for the Vikings as he has 11 points to go with his 2 blocks.

Oakley Kress and McHale Korf both chipped in 6 points, and Kress led the team with 8 rebounds. Nick Schermerhorn was the leader in assists with 5.

As a team, Pelican Rapids was 12-37 (32%) from the field and made 2-12 (17%) three pointers. Perham won the battle of the boards 35-25.

“We played two teams that really got after us defensively this week and didn’t allow us any easy offensive possessions,” stated Coach Gullingsrud. “While it was difficult to go through, we feel like our guys learned what it is like to go up against that type of defensive intensity, which will only benefit us as we head into the second half of the season.”