It has been five seasons since a team besides St. Cloud Cathedral or Albany has won the Granite Ridge Conference. In four of those years, the Crusaders have been the conference champions, with the Huskies taking home their only title in the 2015-16 season.
It seems, so far, that one of these teams will extend that streak to six years, with Albany sitting atop the standings. St. Cloud Cathedral and Zimmerman are tied in second place.
The Huskies, however, have played an extra conference game, but a win on Tuesday will give them or the Crusaders, ranked No. 5 in Class 2A by Minnesota Basketball News, a significant opportunity to gain control in the title chase.
St. Cloud Cathedral (9-2, 3-0) has been on a roll, winning each of its last three games by at least 27 points. Senior Michael Schaefer has led the team in points per game for the last three seasons and has upped his production even more this year. The Augustana (South Dakota) commit has scored 25.6 points while pulling down 12.8 rebounds per game.
Though Albany (9-4, 4-0) does not look to a singular offensive weapon, Ethan Hylla leads a balanced scoring unit at 11.2 ppg. The Huskies instead rely on stout defense to grind out wins. Albany has given up more than 50 points only four times this season, with three of those games ending in losses.
This stylistic clash will also serve as a proving ground for both of these Class 2A, Section 6 teams as the postseason looms. The Crusaders advanced to the state tournament last season and lost in the third-place game.
Winning this conference and section matchup could be the confidence builder that pushes the victor to both the state tournament and the conference title, which makes this our top game of the week.