Mar 14, 2025
Madelia’s Hayden Jones drives to the hoop while guarded by BOLD’s Will Penkert in the first half of Thursday’s Section 2A boys basketball title game against BOLD at Bresnan Arena in Mankato.
Story and photos by
Travis Rosenau
trosenau@nujournal.com
MANKATO — The Madelia Blackhawks’ spirited season that saw a program record 23 wins came to a close Thursday as the BOLD Warriors were too tough to handle on both ends of the court.
With a barrage of buckets in the paint, the second-seeded Warriors muscled their way to a 76-49 win over the fourth-seeded Blackhawks in the Section 2A Boys Basketball Tournament title game Thursday at Bresnan Arena.
Madelia’s Josiah DeMaris looks for an opening on offense while guarded by BOLD’s Owen Flann in Thursday’s Section 2A boys basketball title game against BOLD at Bresnan Arena in Mankato.
The win for the Warriors (20-10) gave BOLD it’s first state tournament berth in program history.
The Blackhawks finished their season 23-7.
Despite falling short to the Warriors, Madelia head coach Jeff Van Hee said he was proud of his players for getting to this point and let them know in the post-game huddle.
“[I told them], ‘Be proud of everything you accomplished,’” Van Hee said. “‘You’ve done it the right way. You played together, supported each other. I know it’s tough right now, but you’ll always have this memory of the season, this game.’ The seniors, they left a legacy and that’s what we can do. You go from that. The guys, I’m really proud. I felt coming in we were prepared, we were ready to go, we just couldn’t get it done.”
Jack Gross led the Warriors with 24 points, while Owem Baumgartner added 19 points and Will Penkert had 14. Hudson Vosika was the fourth Warrior in double figures with 11.
Madelia’s Kyle Pietsch puts up a hook shot during the second half of the Section 2A boys basketball championship game against BOLD on Thursday at Bresnan Arena in Mankato.
Madelia was led by senior Hayden Jones’ 13 points, while Kaydon Firchau had 12 points and Dalton Tatro had 8 points. Tate Becker added 6 points, while Madelia’s other starting seniors Kyle Pietsch and Josiah DeMaris scored 6 and 4 points, respectively.
After Gross won the opening tip-off, he quickly got the ball back in his hands and buried a 3 to put the Warriors up before Becker scored inside on the other end. A 7-0 BOLD run followed to put the Warriors up 10-2 and force Van Hee to burn a timeout with 15:08 left in the first half.
A Baumgartner steal for a layup and a one-handed slam dunk by Gross had BOLD up 15-6 moments later. A Becker steal for a layup cut the Blackhawks’ deficit to 15-8, but Penkert hit a 3 to give his team a double-digit lead for the first time of the night. BOLD ended up hitting seven 3s in the first half but the Warriors didn’t really need it as they controlled the paint and scored regularly inside while forcing Madelia’s post players to take numerous tough hook shots near the low block but outside of the paint.
“They’ll hit a few 3s, but they like to penetrate,” Van Hee said. “We were out on Vosika or on Penkert, but he hit some shots early. We didn’t do a great job taking away Gross’ left hand like we had planned. But they hit shots early and that’s such a momentum thing. Then we come down and our shooters were shooting and not knocking shots down. We just couldn’t weather the storm.
“Hats off to them, they played well, they played really well and did what they needed to do to get out on us. They made it really tough for Kaydon to get downhill. Our game is to be able to go and pressure defensively and hit shots. We just didn’t knock them down.”
Madelia’s Kaydon Firchau drives to the basket during the first half of Thursday’s Section 2A boys basketball title game against BOLD at Bresnan Arena in Mankato.
Baumgartner scored back-to-back buckets in the paint minutes later as the Blackhawks went cold, giving BOLD a 30-15 lead. BOLD stretched its lead to 34-17 before Tatro hit a much-needed 3 to have his team down 34-20. Moments later after BOLD increased its lead to 41-22, Tatro hit another key 3 for the Blackhawks to have them down 41-25, but another bucket inside by Baumgartner had BOLD up 43-25 at the half.
Jones opened the second half with a bucket, but Penkert got it back inside before Vosika drove the baseline for a 20-point BOLD lead, 47-27. The Warriors grew their lead to as much as 28, 67-39, after a 3 from Tyler Ruschen. Firchau, Jones and Pietsch all scored to give Madelia a quick 6-0 run and trail 67-45, but the Warriors remained in control after that as substitutions were made.
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