State Tournament: Alexandria Earns First Championship

Ryan James March 22, 2025 @ 04:15 PM

Chase. An important word here with several meanings to this game. Not only was Mankato East constantly in deficit chasing the Cardinals, they had to find a way to stop Chase Thompson Chase Thompson 6'8" | PF Alexandria | 2025 State #216 Nation MN , one of the two frontrunners for Mr. Basketball. East would have some successful possessions dealing with the Clemson commit, but they didn't have enough. Ganden Gosch Ganden Gosch 6'5" | SF Mankato East | 2025 State MN had to deal with foul trouble trying to guard Thompson and rarely did East have a player that could both step to Thompson at the perimeter, AND put length on him around the basket.

And with Thompson commanding so much attention, it left space for others. Samson Hagstrom Samson Hagstrom 6'1" | PG Alexandria | 2025 State MN and Mason Witt Mason Witt 5'11" | PG Alexandria | 2026 State MN hit multiple threes in space at the perimeter, and Mason Witt Mason Witt 5'11" | PG Alexandria | 2026 State MN and Talan Witt Talan Witt 6'1" | PG Alexandria | 2026 State MN found angles to the rim. I also felt that Coach Forrest Witt did a marvelous job with his timeout calls both in timing, and in the plays/sets/actions that came out of them.

The key moment of the game for me was Alex taking three long threes that weren't good shots followed by East getting quick scores the other way, Forrest got a whistle, and out of the whistle Alexandria moved the ball and got three made baskets with ball movement to open players at the rim for scores.

MVP. Chase Thompson Chase Thompson 6'8" | PF Alexandria | 2025 State #216 Nation MN . Thompson is a nationally ranked prospect for so so many reasons: toughness, skill, body control, court intelligence, and the smarts to know when he was going to be a stretch big hitting jumpers, and the times when he needed to use his physical gifts to dominate the paint. Thompson was 10 of 18 from the floor for 28 points hitting three threes and five of six foul shots. Throw in seven rebounds and four assists and you have a championship performance.

Three More Title Game Standouts

Talan Witt Talan Witt 6'1" | PG Alexandria | 2026 State MN of Alexandria. Talan is a prospect that really has caught my attention this year. He's grown a bit and is surely more agile and quick with the first step than I was aware. He is a 45+ percent three point shooter on the season but also a solid ball handler at the one with a good first step. He had 16 points, seven rebounds and four assists.

Brogan Madson Brogan Madson 6'1" | PG Mankato East | 2025 State MN of Mankato East. Madson is a passionate competitor and this game means the world to him. You could see it on his face both in moments of comeback, and in the moments after the game. Against Alex his teammates were the initial handlers against the press and once he ball moved to the middle of the floor and into the halfcourt, Brogan was the scorer. He made 12 of 25 shots including several impressive finishes on the move and clutch threes late that gave East a chance.

Lucas Gustafson Lucas Gustafson 6'0" | PG Mankato East | 2026 State MN of Mankato East. I felt like Lucas had some moments that make me think he (along with Amari Nobles Amari Nobles 6'7" | SF/CG Mankato East | 2026 State MN and Braden Petzel) are going to make East very good next year. His attack and finish at the rim moving around Thompson is not something I will forget and his early threes got East back in the game after getting down double figures. Better lead guard than I knew of too. He had a dozen points and seven boards.