Five Things to Know: Alexandria 77 St Cloud Tech 54

<!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Alexandria took control of Tech early and held that control for a 77 to 54 win. Here are five things to know.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>One. Alexandria Defense</strong>. The Cards were in their traditional zone and they used that zone to bring instant attention to [player_tooltip player_id='1284214' first='Tameron' last='Ferguson'], doubling attention to Ferguson, constant help to Ferguson whenever he attacked, etc. The Cardinal defense not only limited Tameron to 5 of 14 shooting, they limited his touches in a lot of ways. Tech shot only 18 of 47 for the game (there were a lot of turnovers too) and it was that Tech defense that was the MVP. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Two. Alexandria Transition Defense</strong>. Tech has been one of the best transition scoring teams I have seen this year with Tameron being one of the best transition finishers I have seen all year. Alexandria not only limited Tech's ability to push the ball by scoring regularly, I thought Tech did a great job of using a lot of shot clock and getting good shots, and I thought their focus on getting back quickly on misses really did a great job of limiting transition attempts even more. It was good offensive execution and great transition defense that also limited Tech to 54 points. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Three. Grayson is Back</strong>. Tech does not have a player with the height and strength combo to guard [player_tooltip player_id='1284138' first='Grayson' last='Grove']. When the Minnesota signed big got touches around the basket he completed most of them from high percentage areas. Grove had 17 points on 8 of 13 shooting with ten rebounds, five steals and three assists. All of his assists were kickouts to [player_tooltip player_id='2118449' first='Mason' last='Witt'] for threes. Grove's steals were passing lane touches or low post grabs plus he took a charge. It was a quality performance in a big game coming back from Grove's second injury of the year. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Four. Alex Balance</strong>. The Cardinals had too many weapons for Tech to defend. It was Grove inside, it was Witt at the arc scoring 13, it was [player_tooltip player_id='1572690' first='Chase' last='Thompson'] scoring 18 combining three threes with scores at the cup, and it was [player_tooltip player_id='2118495' first='Talan' last='Witt'] scoring ten points off the bench and it was [player_tooltip player_id='2025473' first='Bralyn' last='Steffensmeier'] and [player_tooltip player_id='1450112' first='Dawson' last='Roderick'] each scoring four times in active ways. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Five. Tech Sophomore.</strong> I'm not sure where this game would have been if Elijah Johnson, who came into the night averaging 2.3 points a game, had not hit four of five three point attempts. He had a nine point run that gave his team a chance but it was only for a bit. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Tameron had a dozen at the half as he was able to find some space in the first half but Ferguson was held without a second half field goal (he did make five second half foul shots). </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph -->