The ninth-seeded Pine River-Backus Tigers boys’ basketball team upset No. 8 East Central 55-46 in the first round of the East Subsection 5A playoffs on Monday, March 4, in Sandstone.

The Tigers, 2-25 overall, advance to the subsection quarterfinals against top-ranked Barnum at 7 p.m. on Thursday, March 7. East Central finishes the season 1-22 overall.

Beau Howard scored 18 points and Zach Stuss added 16 points for the Tigers, who were ahead 25-18 at the half. Howard also had five assists.

Pine River-Backus was defeated 74-36 by the host Crosby-Ironton Rangers on Tuesday, Feb. 12. The game remained close early on, but became a blowout during the second half.

The Rangers started the game with a long-range basket for three points to take an early lead. C-I didn’t stop there, scoring the first seven points of the game on a fast break layup and another basket inside on an offensive rebound before PR-B made their first basket of the night.

The traveling Pine River-Backus team played well, but came up short against the Menahga Braves in a 65-49 loss on Thursday, Jan. 31.

The Tigers were able to play a strong game for much of the first half, and appeared to be headed for an upset before ultimately falling short. The game saw many lead changes early in the game until Menahga made a run before the half and never again relinquished the lead.

The visiting Red Lake Warriors defeated the Pine River-Backus Tigers 95-60 despite a hard fought effort from the Tigers on Friday, Jan. 18.

The Warriors were able to consistently score points and often forced the Tigers into turnovers. Despite staying in the game early, eventually the physical Red Lake team would wear down the Tigers and win by a large margin.