Albany victorious in boys basketball championship over previously undefeated Waseca

MINNEAPOLIS — Albany is the undefeated champion of Minnesota Class 2A boys basketball.

The Huskies handed Waseca its first loss of the year Saturday in the title game at the University of Minnesota's Williams Arena by a score of 70-63. It is the third year in a row that Albany has won a medal in the state tournament, winning the program's first state title in 2023 and placing third in 2024.

Albany (32-0) has trailed an opponent few times this season: on Jan 10 in a 63-58 win over Pequot Lakes (23-9) and in the state final and semifinal games. The Huskies had 23 turnovers against the Blue Jays, who fought hard to make shots and stay in the game after defensive stops.

In the postgame press conference, Albany senior captain Eliott Burnett said the team hasn't felt pressure from any other opponent like Waseca brought on offense or defense and that "it took a little bit to get adjusted to it."

"It's different but I feel as a team we could have handled it way better, especially since we had lots of lazy passes," classmate Zeke Austin said. "It's not like they were picking us, it was just long passes that we know we can't make."

Blue Jay players moved well laterally, cutting off passes or slipping a hand behind a Husky dribbler's guard to poke the ball away. They had 21 points off turnovers compared to 15 from Albany. The Huskies had just nine steals.

"We had more turnovers tonight than we probably had in the last month combined," coach Corey Schlagel said. "That's a really good basketball team. They're so fast. We haven't played against anything that fast and it showed. We looked like a fifth-grade travel team half the time."

Schlagel said Albany hadn't faced "major adversity" like the Blue Jays brought in either the regular season or the section tournament. But Schlagel said the Huskies trusted their experience and didn't doubt their ability to win.

"We just kept grinding," Schlagel said. "I can't tell you how hard they work behind the scenes. They just flat-out get after it. They are the perfect role models for all the younger players. They provided a blueprint for three years for kids in Albany to understand what you need to do in order to compete at the highest level."

This season Albany played behind a six-person senior class that is chock full of athleticism. The Huskies are led by Austin, who is committed to Jamestown College and Minnesota-Moorhead-commit Sam Hondl, who combined for 50 points in the championship. Austin added five steals, two assists and two turnovers to his stat line and Hondl had six assists, seven rebounds and a block. The pair played all 36 minutes despite facing a trapping full-court press in the second half and double teams in the post.

Albany's three players off the bench didn't have a point or rebound but as a team the Huskies made 24-of-40 shots — 60%.

"These guys don't panic," Schlagel said. "Even when we got behind a possession, we got behind by three at one point today, we flipped the script pretty quickly there at the end of the first half. I trust these guys."

Waseca coach Seth Anderson said Albany's most difficult threat is being able to switch every screen on defense and not have mismatches.

Like Albany, most of Waseca's points were scored by two players. The Russell brothers, senior Damarius Russell and junior Deron Russell, combined for 54 points, ripping the net from three and cutting inside for layups. Both were comfortable shooting from well beyond the NCAA three-point arc — they'd create space with one foot forward, just to step directly back into a quick-release three. On drives, they could also accurately get the ball out to a teammate facilitator, but the Russells took 45 of the team's 56 shots.

"Their shot-making was incredible," Schlagel said.

Damarius Russell has Division I offers to play football in the fall. He was impressed with Austin's shooting too.

"He was hitting some tough shots," Russell said. "Some shots I honestly didn't think he was going to hit, but they were falling for him."

Waseca had only two points from the bench and the Blue Jays only drew 11 fouls. Albany outrebounded Waseca 25-14, helped by Ethan Meyer staying out of the foul trouble he was in Friday in the semifinal. He was responsible for four in the title game, but played for 29 minutes and had 10 rebounds with six points. He also had three assists and had two steals.

"It's a great feeling," Meyer said. "For us seniors, we've been playing together since we were little. Just to see all that hard work we've done though all the years — it's a pretty great feeling."

This year is the most recent of four Blue Jay state runs since 2015. The team won in 2021 and made the quarterfinals in 2024.

Contact reporter Reid Glenn at rglenn@gannett.com.

This article originally appeared on St. Cloud Times: Albany wins 2025 Minnesota boys basketball championship over Waseca

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