Photo by Paul Trende
Photo by Sara Kroshus
On one level, Caledonia boys basketball will be disappointed. They took on the 2025 state Class AA tournament going 1-2. They lost their last two games and thus took fourth place. There is no shame in fourth, but the Warriors were only a few plays away from making the state title game. As it were, their two loss es were resilient comeback that fell short. On a different level, making state, particularly in Class AA is hard. And the Warriors competed and competed, truly battling three other ranked teams (including almost mounting massive 20-point deficit rallies). A hyped senior class had an epic season filled with wins, 1,000-point scorers, three-pointers, and dunks and it will not be soon forgotten, as they etched their names as another of the great Warrior b-ball squads.
Caledonia’s state quarterfinal opponent was oddly the same as the girls’ opponent. The #3 Warriors (Section 1AA Champ, 4-seed, 28-2) took on #8 Minnehaha Academy (Section 4AA Champ, 5-seed, 19-9). Brad King’s group was cruising. They rode 6’6” senior forward Reid Klug (15 pts, 6 rebs, 3 asts) and freshman guard Grant King (12 pts) to a 38-22 halftime lead, utilizing Klug a lot to initiate the offense from the high-post. Defensively, Caledonia held the Redhawks to just five first half field goals (5 of 22 > 23%) including one inside the three-point arc. Minnehaha had 11 turnovers. The Warriors shot 12 of 23 (52%) in building their lead, which then grew to 20 (42-22) early in the second half. But then Minnehaha got hot. Specifically, reserve guard Fitta Jafar smoldered. The senior, who had two of Minnehaha’s five first half threes, hit four more in the second half, all without a miss, all early in the half. The Redhawks at one point made seven straight fields goals. They spurted 23-7, cutting the Warrior lead to 49-45 midway thru the stanza. But two Klug free throws followed by an Ethan Stendel rebound put-back, then a Stendel driving layup, stemmed the Redhawks momentum. All told, Caledonia went on a 10-0 run scoring on five straight possessions. Minnehaha came up empty five straight times. The lead was pushed back to 59-45. Down the stretch, Caledonia added exclamation points. Garrett Konz slammed home the last two Warrior field goals. Caledonia moved on to the state semifinals via a 72-56 win. Klug (23 pts, 8-13 FGs, 7-9 FTs, 11 rebs, 4 asts, 5 stls) was massive across the board to lead the way. Konz (21 pts, 8-13 FGs, 4-4 FTs, 5 rebs) also topped 20. He scored 18 of Caledonia’s 34 second half points (after accumulating three first half fouls). G-King (12 pts, 4-7 FTs, 6 asts, 4 stls) and Mason King (11 pts, 4-4 FTs, 3 stls) also hit double figures. Stendel added 5 (pts), 10 (rebs), and 3 (blks). The Warriors were 20 of 26 from the free throw line (77%) with the four four-K guys all hitting at least four. Minnehaha was 9 of 15 (60%) from the stripe. The Warriors shot 57% from the field (25 of 44) to the Redhawks 35% (19 of 54). Caledonia attacked the lane liberally, taking just five threes (zero in the second half), but scoring 44 points in the paint to Minnehaha’s 20. The Redhawks were led by Jafar (21 pts, 6-12 threes) and George Norsman (12 pts). Noah Hamburge added 9 (pts) and 6 (rebs). Oddly enough, Minnehaha had the largest scoring run of 13, but their only lead was 1-0, as the Warriors led for all but 13 seconds.
In the semis, the #3 Warriors (4-seed, Section 1AA Champ, 29-2) took on #1 Albany (1-seed, Section 6AA Champ, 30-0) at Williams Arena. On top of the Huskies being undefeated, and it being a matchup of the #1 and #3 teams in AA, the game had family backstory. Warrior starters Mason King, Grant King, and Reid Klug, plus Albany starter Zeke Austin, are all cousins. The non-Caledonia cousin had a huge effect on the game in the early going. It was a very tough start for the Warriors. While Albany hit 7 of its first 9 field goals including five early threes, the Warriors hit just 2 of its first 16 field goals. The result was a 25-5 hole. But the Warrior defense clamped down from there and they made a steady comeback. Finishing the half outscoring Albany 14-5, Caledonia cut the lead to 30-19 at halftime. Albany made 7 of 10 first-half three-pointers, Austin going 4 of 6. Caledonia then scored five straight out of halftime to cut the lead back into single digits at 30-24. It was game on from there. Albany later built a 10-point lead at 50-40 only for the Warriors to go 10-0. Mason King’s fourth three of the second half got the Warriors back to even at 50-50 with about four minutes remaining. At that point, Caledonia was 5 of 7 from deep in the stanza. But down the stretch, and in the second half in general, free throws proved a bugaboo for the team Cal. They hit just 6 of 15 in the second stanza (40%), well below the team percentage for the season. Just a game after Caledonia made 20 of 26 versus Minnehaha Academy (77%), the team went 9 of 19 (47%) versus Albany. And the Huskies turned to their 6’7” standout Lucas Hondl. He knocked down a couple free throws and scored on a driving layup in succession to put Albany up 54-50. Caledonia then once had the ball trailing by two, 54-52, and another time trailing by three 56-53 (in the final minute), but they came up empty each trip. Austin hit 3 of 4 freebies in the final 12 seconds to cement the win, as Albany narrowly held off the Warriors’ comeback in a physical battle. The final was 59-53. It was only Albany’s second single digit win of the season (at the time), with a five-point victory over Pequot Lakes being the other. Austin (22 pts, 5-9 threes, 9 rebs, 7 asts) stuffed the stat sheet for the winners, as he will have family bragging rights. Hondl (12 pts, 4-12 FGs, 6 rebs) was held to one of his lowest scoring outputs of the season. Braedon Justin added 9 points, hitting 3 of 5 threes. M-King (20 pts, 6-10 threes) led the Warriors, topping his cousin Austin in made threes. Garrett Konz (12 pts, 5-9 FTs, 7 rebs), Ethan Stendel (10 pts, 5-6 FGs, 8 rebs), and Klug (8 pts, 7 rebs) helped the Warrior cause. Albany finished the game 11 of 22 (50%) from deep. The Warriors were 7 of 18 (39%). Free throws were the other big stat with Caledonia going 9 of 19, Albany 8 of 12 (75%). Assists were also noteworthy. Albany moved the ball well with 16 assists to Caledonia’s five, as the Warriors did their offense which relies on a good amount of match-up based one-one-one. Excerpts from Coach Brad King in the post-game interview: “We are extremely disappointed. Our goal was to be playing in the championship tomorrow … …after the first eight minutes, I thought our defense was FANTASIC. We worked our butts off … … we are very proud of the effort that everybody puts in every day … … we have got eight fantastic seniors and there are two or three that get zero recognition, and they play as hard as (the starters) do in practice, which helps (the starters) get better every day. It is a fantastic group effort.” Albany coach Cory Schlagel: “We knew it was going to be an absolute war. They got a lot of physical athletes who are very well coached … … we knew one of the keys of the game was we were going to half to hit shots … and we did hit shots early in the game.” Albany senior Zeke Austin: “It was definitely the most physical game we have played.”
Caledonia (4-seed, Section 1AA champ, 29-3) then moved on to a third-place game at Concordia University in St. Paul with The Breck School (3-seed, Section 5AA Champ, 20-11), in matchup of the #3 and #4 teams to end the season in AA. Like versus Albany, the Warriors found themselves in a huge early hole. A physical, foul-laden game saw Caledonia lead 22-20 early only to give up a 21-0 run. Breck’s intense ball pressure and then speedy transition game wreaked havoc. The Warriors had eight turnovers in 10 possessions. Not many calls went Caledonia’s way either (though it was a physical fast-paced contact-laden contest; not an official’s dream). The Mustangs built a 41-22 lead which was 56-35 at intermission. At that point, Breck was killing Caledonia in transition and off the dribble to the tone of shooting 15 of 20 from two-point land (75%) with mostly layups and in-close shots. But the Warriors rallied big time after intermission. They handled the ball better and forced Breck into more outside shots. Slowly Caledonia chipped away. With less than nine minutes to go, the Warriors went on a 14-2 run. Ethan Stendel, usually the fourth or fifth option on offense, was the Warriors dude. After scoring 18 first half points, a Stendel offensive-rebound put-back amazingly tied the contest 71-71 with 6:02 left. After a couple Breck free throws, Reid Klug went down the lane for a big slam and the game was again tied (73-73) with 5:31 left. The teams went back and forth then for a few minutes and Caledonia was within three, 80-77, with 2:57 left. But it went south from there. Breck took the ball to the basket with drives, doing so on back-to-back possessions. A Mu Muhammad three-point play both put Breck up 85-77 with 1:49 left and fouled Klug out. After getting out-scored 42-24 up to the 80-77 score in the second half, making only five field goals, the Mustangs out-scored Caledonia 18-2 to the finish. They made eight of their last nine shots and 10 of their last 11 free throws overall. Some of the points were piling on a bit at the end and inconsequential to the outcome. But nonetheless, they cranked it up in crunch time and pulled away for the 98-77 win. It was easily the most points Caledonia has given up in a game this season (topping 80 in a loss to Onalaska). Stendel (29 pts, 11-16 FGs, 6-8 FTs, 18 rebs) used his athleticism to post his best game of the year. Klug (26 pts, 9-16 FGs, 11 rebs, 5 asts) was also big. They were the only two Warriors in double figures. M-King (9 pts, 3-6 threes) and G-Konz (8 pts, 8 rebs) helped. Miles Newton had a game-high 30 points (10-18 FGs, 4-9 threes, 6-7 FTs) to lead the Mustangs. He missed a good chunk of the second half, when Caledonia made its run, on account of having four fouls. There was a bang-bang call with 3:10 left where Newton basically ran over Ben Stemper, but Stemper was called for the foul. Newton made the shot and the free throw, putting Breck up 80-76, a key sequence (where Newton easily could have fouled out). Muhammad added 26 points (10-14 FGs, 5-6 FTs, 6 stls). Waleed Muhammad (12 pts, 4-6 FTs) and DeAngelo Dungey (8 pts, 6-7 FTs) helped. Breck shot a ridiculous 26 of 38 from two-point range (68%), 33 of 63 overall (52%) from the field. They were also a strong 25 of 30 at the free throw line (83%) and had just five turnovers. Caledonia shot 27 of 62 from the field (44%), 20 of 32 from the line (63%), with 17 turnovers. The Warriors did fight for 20 offensive rebounds and had 20 second-chance-points. But they gave up 28 points-off-turnovers and got outscored on fast-breaks points 21-1. The game had 49 total fouls called (Cal 24, Breck 25). Three Warriors (Klug, G-King, Stemper) fouled out and Stendel finished with four. Breck had just one guy foul out but three finished with four fouls. Thirteen players (anyone who played heavy minutes) were called for multiple fouls. The Warriors’ season ends one short of 30 wins at 29-4. Klug, M-King, Konz, Stendel, Stemper, Noah Treptow, Tyler Hoscheit, and an injured Will Hahn are the team’s eight seniors. Said group went 38-4 in the TRC over the past three years with two out-right and one shared league title. They went 68-22 overall in that span including 52-9 the past two years. Klug, Konz, and M-King performed the ultra-rare feat of all topping 1,000 career points from the same class. Klug, averaging 19 points and 9.7 rebounds over the three contests, made the All-Tourney team. Albany, the Warriors’ semifinal opponent, went on to win the AA state title over Waseca 70-63, completing a perfect season (32-0).