Tyrel Pride Leads Tartan past Alexandria

Ryan James February 22, 2026 @ 02:24 PM

In a very important non conference victory, Tartan knocked off Alexandria 77-71 on Saturday.   The Tartan Titans are 24-0 on the season and ranked number one in the state of Minnesota (in Class AAAA and in the overall power rankings). The Titans have beaten Hopkins 84-76 and they have defeated Maple Grove 68-61.   Tartan is fighting for section seeding with East Ridge and Cretin-Derham Hall who the Titans don't play during the season. The Raptors and Raiders play in an all AAAA team league, plus they play each other twice, while Tartan plays in a league that is mostly AAA teams (outside of Tartan and Hastings). An additional non conference win of quality was big for Tartan. Especially because....   East Ridge has played Maple Grove and lost 75 to 80. Cretin-Derham Hall has played Alexandria and won 78-69. With the Titans defeating a team that the Raptors couldn't, and the Titans beating a team by single digits just like CDH did, and with the Raptors and Raiders splitting games, it helps the Titans in the section seeding conversations.   Tartan had a 39-24 lead at the half against Alexandria on the strength of a seven minute stretch where they held the Cards to one field goal (thanks Hoop Czar!).   If you know Alexandria you understand that they will extend a 1-2-2 zone at you, they will play other zones, they will play man, and you have to try and figure out how to attack them each possession in a way that you don't have to other teams.   And if you know Tartan, you know that they will come at you with a well prepared man to man defense that is ferocious at times. But they are well coached and will mix in some special rules.   So with that said, this game had long pockets of some bad shots taken as each team had to force some shots against the clock. Or sometimes players would attack when they thought they had space that they may not get again. Because of that there were some rough attacks into congestion, and way too many long range jumpers that were completed with very low percentage rates.   Each team made their run. Tartan had the 39-24 lead but Alex tied the game at 58.   For me the game changed when Tartan cut the NBA threes out and the ball started moving with a bit more purpose. You saw [player_tooltip player_id='2119645' first='Tyrel' last='Pride'] and [player_tooltip player_id='2465512' first='Duke' last='King'] each find one another with key makes. You saw [player_tooltip player_id='2560499' first='Kevin' last='Wilson Jr.'] have three key assists down the stretch. And most importantly, [player_tooltip player_id='2119645' first='Tyrel' last='Pride'] hit three late three pointers that opened the game for Tartan to win 77-71.   When it gets to this point of the year we aren't looking at numbers, we are looking at victories. That said.... Wilson scored a team high 18 points but it was a rough shooting day to get to those 18 points. He did move the ball late for some key scores.   [player_tooltip player_id='2119645' first='Tyrel' last='Pride'] sunk four three threes and three of them were clutch. Between those threes and the pass to [player_tooltip player_id='2465512' first='Duke' last='King'] for an And1, I thought those were the biggest plays of the game.   Alexandria was led by [player_tooltip player_id='3459122' first='Gavin' last='Roderick'] who was the guy that seemed to take the best advantage of the long Tartan misses/turnovers when the Cards quickly pushed the other way. He scored 18 while Blake School scored 16 points and I thought Blake was the most efficient player Alexander had in this game. Blake had some key scores that closed the gap including a three and a spin move And1 score.

In a very important non conference victory, Tartan knocked off Alexandria 77-71 on Saturday.