ST. CLOUD – Tied with four wins each of the past three seasons, the Alexandria and St. Cloud Tech boys basketball teams appear destined to meet in the section tournament for the third year in a row.
On Tuesday, the Cardinals humiliated the Tigers 77-54 on their home court, three weeks after Tech (14-7) won their first game of the season. With this win, Alex (16-5) nearly finishes Central Lakes in his conference and earns the No. 1 seed in the Section 8-3A tournament.
The biggest difference between Tuesday's blowout loss and Tech's 68-59 victory on Jan. 26 was the loss of Alexandria star forwards Grayson Grove and Chase Thompson, who had spent most of January recovering from injuries. It was a comeback.
“They played really well,” technical coach Don Ferguson said after the game. “When you add a big man in there, it changes the dynamics and the way they play. It helps clean up a lot of the rebounding, offense, second-chance opportunities that they get. They're tough. There's no other way to describe them than to be a tough, executing team.”
It was Grove's second game back, but he still had his limits in Tuesday's game. The 6-foot-9 senior is committed to Minnesota to play in Big Ten basketball, and his 6-foot-7 junior teammate is at Nebraska State amid interest from other DI schools. I have an offer from.
The pair had a heated battle as Thompson made a few threes and Grove regained his feet (and conditioning) under him. The Cardinals increased their lead to 17-8 by Ferguson's first timeout at 12:37. With both star forwards spending extensive time on the bench until halftime, the Tigers narrowed the gap to five points, eventually trailing 37-31 at halftime.
Grove and Thompson received more time in the second, strengthening the team's offense and making it more difficult to score.
Ferguson felt like his team had been shot in the foot.
“We played them there without the big man and had 26 turnovers,” he said. “Tonight, before I give you the stats, I guarantee you, we had probably 25 turnovers, inadvertent turnovers with no real pressure.
Alexandria's defenders blocked well in the middle of the court and kept their arms raised as the driving Tiger went for a bailout pass. Some of Tech's turnovers occurred when they were forced to pass or when a drive stalled and someone got stripped without knowing where to take the ball.
“They didn't cut or slash,” Don Ferguson said. “Trust me, we’re working on a triangle offense, but the guys get down by a few points and start thinking about everything but executing.”
Tameron Ferguson, Tech's star senior guard who has entertained DII and DI's own looks, was limited to 17 points in the past two games, despite scoring 88 points.
“It felt like they were everywhere on defense tonight,” said Tameron Ferguson, Don Ferguson's son.
According to Alex's coach, Forrest Witt, this was intentional. He said the Cardinals are doing everything they can to limit Tameron Ferguson's touches and contested shots.
“We did a good job of containing him tonight, but he’s a hell of a player,” Witt said.
Other offensive threats like stretch senior guards Palmer Baynes and Mekhi Edwards were also contained.
Ferguson is expected to break the school's all-time scoring record Friday night against St. Cloud Apollo (5-16).
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Most of the Tigers' defensive duties fell to Edwards and senior Amar Boyongo. Edwards plays like a guard on offense, but he can use his 6-foot-6 frame as leverage to protect blocks. But Boyongo beat the Cardinals, whose two stars also had finesse skills.
Facing a comeback in the second period, Tameron Ferguson felt like Tech “checked out.” He plays on the same AAU team as Grove and Thompson.
“We have to be tough on them,” he said. “They're obviously good players and have high commitments in the majors. They're going to get buckets, but we want to be even tougher on them. We want to get doubles. We tried to hit, but No. 0 (Mason Witt, Forrest Witt's son) kept hitting threes. So we have to come into the game with a better game plan and just not give up. No.”
An hour after the game ended, he was shooting.
In the past four years, Tech and Alex have shared eight games, including two sectional championships. Tech won the Section 8-3A championship in 2022 and Alex won at home last year. Coach Don Ferguson said the next five regular season games will be critical for the Tigers to secure the No. 2 seed against the Detroit Lakes and ensure they don't face the Cardinals until the championship.
Friday's game against the Northside Eagles begins at 7:15 p.m. at Technical High School.
Contact reporter Reid Glenn at rglenn@gannett.com.
