Boys Basketball 2025: Albany captures Class AA crown in battle of unbeatens with Waseca

Expect greatness when two unbeaten teams clash for a state championship. Albany and Waseca delivered. 

No. 1 seed Albany shot 60 percent from the floor and outlasted No. 2 Waseca, 70-63, in the Boys Basketball State Tournament Class AA championship game Saturday night at Williams Arena on the University of Minnesota campus. 

Albany (32-0) is the first undefeated Boys Basketball state champion since Belgrade-Brooten-Elrosa went 33-0 and won the Class A crown in 2012. 

The Huskies, who also won the 2023 Class AA championship, were last defeated in the 2024 state semifinals by Lake City. 

“It’s special,” Albany senior Sam Hondl said. “No team has done this before here at Albany. Especially two of them.  

“After last year, that last loss hurt. Ever since then, we knew the next year we just wanted to get back to the top.” 

Hondl scored 23 points and teamed with classmate Zeke Austin (27 points) to form a star scoring duo that kept pace with Deron and Damarius Russell’s total of 54 for Waseca, including a game-high 32 from Deron.

Deron Russell’s long-range 3 tied the score at 57, but Elliott Burnett answered with one of Albany’s seven 3s (on 15 attempts) for a 60-57 lead with 3:25 remaining.

The speedy Bluejays (32-1) made it tough on Albany with their pressure defense and tough shot-making, but the Huskies’ State Tournament experience paid off.

“We had a couple tough buckets there at the end,” Albany coach Cory Schlagel said. “I don’t know, that wasn’t coaching. That was just kids making a play. They were just getting it out of those traps and busting it and I wasn’t going to stop them.”

Hondl, Burnett and Austin represented Albany on the All-Tournament Team presented by Trustone Financial and Delta Dental.

Third place: Miles Newton scored 30 points and Mu Muhammad had 26 as Breck won Saturday's third-place game, 98-79, over Caledonia. The Mustangs put up 56 points in the first half to take a 21-point lead.