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Boys basketball roundup: Alexandria crushes Willmar in Section 8AAA playoffs

tom elliott and joe brown, west central tribune, willmar, minn.
·2 min read

Mar. 5—ALEXANDRIA — The Alexandria boys basketball team looked the part of a top seed Tuesday night and thus ended Willmar's season.

Alex beat Willmar 86-33 in the Section 8AAA playoffs at Jefferson High School.

Alex advances to the 8AAA semifinals, where it plays Fergus Falls at 7 p.m. Friday in Alex. Fourth-seeded Fergus Falls beat No. 5 Rocori 68-66.

In other 8AAA games, No. 2 Detroit Lakes ran past No. 7 St. Cloud Apollo 101-74 and No. 3 St. Cloud Tech beat No. 6 Little Falls 82-56.

Tech plays at 7 p.m. Friday at Detroit Lakes in the other semifinal. The championship game is set for 7 p.m. Thursday, March 14 at a neutral site.

Alex ran up a 56-16 halftime lead on Willmar.

Chase Thompson led Alex with 18 points, five rebounds and five steals. Bralyn Steffensmeier added 17 points, five assists and four steals and Mason Witt had 14 points. Grayson Grove, the University of Minnesota recruit, added 12 points and five rebounds.

Alex shot 53.3% from the field, making 32 of 60 shots, and had 19 steals with nine turnovers. Willmar shot 36.1% from the field, going 13 of 36. It had 28 turnovers and four steals.

Avery Christensen led Willmar with 15 points and seven rebounds.

Willmar finishes the season with a 3-24 record.

Up five at halftime, Gibbon-Fairfax-Winthrop outscored BOLD 46-34 in the second half for the road win in the Section 2A-North quarterfinals at Bird Island.

The Thunderbirds are the six seed and the Warriors are the three seed.

Jack Gross led BOLD with 21 points and eight assists. Maverick Kaufenberg added 11 points. Hudson Vosika approached a double-double with eight points and nine rebounds.

BOLD closes out the season with a 14-13 record.

GFW faces second-seeded Sleepy Eye at 7:45 p.m. Thursday at Sibley East High School in Arlington.

Second-seeded Sleepy Eye ended No. 7 Atwater-Cosmos-Grove City's season at Sleepy Eye.

Sleepy Eye improves its record to 19-8. ACGC finishes 14-13.

In other 2A-North games, top-seeded Sleepy Eye St. Mary's beat No. 8 New Ulm Cathedral 59-53 and No. 4 Lester Prairie defeated No. 5 Cedar Mountain 68-59.

In 2A-South, top-seeded Mountain Lake Area/Comfrey beat No. 8 Martin County West 77-32 and No. 4 Mankato Loyola defeated No. 5 Truman/Martin Luther/Granada-Huntley/East Chain 65-55. No. 6 Alden-Conger surprised No. 3 United South Central 53-52 and No. 2 Springfield beat No. 7 Madelia 98-67.