The Albert Lea Tigers may have sputtered late in the regular season, but they’re undefeated in the second season.

Thursday, March 07, 2002

The Albert Lea Tigers may have sputtered late in the regular season, but they’re undefeated in the second season.

The Tigers opened the postseason by defeating Mankato West 38-35 Wednesday night in a Section 2AAA boys’ basketball quarterfinal at Albert Lea High School.

&uot;It was just a great win,&uot; said ALHS coach Matt Addington. &uot;The kids played with energy, they played with more emotion than they have all year. It was nice to see the kids smile and enjoy the game.&uot;

The Tigers improved their record to 11-12 and advanced to the semifinal round Saturday at 8 p.m. at Minnesota State-Mankato, where they’ll face top-seeded Waseca, which edged No. 8 New Ulm 61-57 in the quarterfinals.

Wednesday’s matchup between fourth-seeded Albert Lea and fifth-seeded West figured to be close and it was – though it took the Scarlets a while to tighten it up.

The Tigers were hot in the early going, with Josh Kasper nailing a three-pointer on their first possession and Tyler Young grabbing a rebound and putting it in for a 5-0 lead.

Young, a 6-foot-5 junior forward, put an exclamation point on the Tigers’ start and brought a lively crowd to its feet on Albert Lea’s next trip up the court. Taking a nifty pass from sophomore point guard Ben Woodside, Young dribbled once and, with authority, put down a two-handed slam dunk for a 7-0 lead.

Scarlet senior Dennis Baker quickly answered with an old-fashioned three-point play, making the field goal and free throw, and both teams struggled offensively the rest of the first quarter, which ended with Albert Lea on top 8-3.

Senior Brandon Smith, who came off the bench with Young in first-quarter foul trouble, scored on a sharp pass from Kasper to quickly make it 10-3 in the second quarter. A free throw by Steve Thorn and a driving lay-up by Woodside made it 13-3.

Two Thorn free throws put the Tigers up 15-5 at the 5:24 mark, matching their biggest lead of the night. It also marked the start of a Scarlet run, which cut it to 16-15 with 1:53 left in the half.

Kyle Schrad rebounded his own miss to put the Tigers up 18-15 and Woodside hit a transition basket with 1:15 left.

A tip-in by Young with two seconds remaining put Albert Lea up 22-15 at halftime. Albert Lea led 35-28 after three quarters.

&uot;We weathered the storm,&uot; said Addington. &uot;We played a scrappy game.&uot;

Kasper topped the Albert Lea scoring chart with 10 points. Woodside had nine points and four steals, Young seven points and nine rebounds.

Addington praised the play of Smith, Thorn and Tim Benesch off the bench.

If the Tigers win Saturday, they’ll play for the section championship and state tournament berth on Thursday, March 14 at 7 p.m. at Minnesota State-Mankato.