Leaders Of The Pack: Albany Huskies Claim Boys’ Class AA Championship

(KNSI) – Albany completes its season of destiny, with a Class AA boys’ basketball state championship on Saturday.

Listen to how it sounded on the KNSI Sports Network.

The Huskies led 39-31 at halftime and never relinquished the lead as they complete a 32-1 season by beating Minnehaha Academy. Albany downed the Redhawks 72-65 at the Target Center in Minneapolis.

Albany withstood a three-point barrage early. Minnehaha Academy jumped out to an early 11-4 advantage, thanks to three makes from beyond the arc by Mateo Cortes-Weiss.

Jerome Williams matched Cortes-Weiss’ 16 points and Rolyns Aligbe had 20 for the full game. Albany’s interior defenders battled with the Redhawk center all day, but they got some looks of their own.

Ethan Borgerding finished with 16 points and 11 rebounds and forward Sam Hondl added 14 plus seven boards. The two big men complimented Huskies guard Tysen Gerads, who dropped a team-high 19 in the game. Sophomore point guard Zeke Austin was the spark plug. He buried three from long-range to fuel a 20-4 run late in the first half that allowed Albany to assert dominance over the contest.

The Huskies were cool coming out of the break but scored enough to begin to pull away again late. Minnehaha Academy upset Holy Family on Friday evening by keeping the game within reach and forcing overtime. Saturday’s title game, at one point, looked to be following a similar script for the Redhawks. The win was the only postseason victory for Albany by fewer than 14 points.

___