This is the matchup many expected to see last March in the Class 2A, Section 1 championship game. But top-seeded Caledonia lost to No. 6 seed St. Charles 65-63 in the semifinals and never made it to the final.
Caledonia senior guard Noah King insists he and his teammates have put aside the disappointment from that loss and this Saturday's showdown between two of the state's best Class 2A teams is nothing more than a good early season test.
King is focused on this season's section final and doesn't want anything getting in the way of that goal this time around.
Both teams return largely intact from last season. Lake City, ranked No. 2 in Class 2A by Minnesota Basketball News from Dec. 4, returns its top five scorers from last season. Caledonia (2-0, 1-0), meanwhile, has four starters back, although 6-8 junior Sam Privet has missed the first few games of this season with an injury.
Even without Privet, No. 3-2A Caledonia boasts a fast-paced and explosive offense led by the King brothers, Noah, who's headed to South Dakota State next season, and sophomore Eli, who scored 27 points in the Warriors' 81-64 defeat of Maranatha Christian at the Breakdown Tip Off Classic last weekend.
Lake City (2-0, 0-0) plays at a different pace, but is no less dangerous offensively than the Warriors. The Tigers' offense runs through seniors Nate Heise, a Northern Iowa commit, and Reid Gastner, a Minnesota State Moorhead recruit. Both players passed the 1,000 career points threshold last season and Heise is on track to set the school's all-time scoring record.
Heise averaged nearly 22 points last season and has 67 points in his first two games this year. Eli King will likely bear the primary responsibility for defending Heise.
These are clearly two of the best Class 2A teams in the state, but only one can make it out of Section 1 and into the state tournament. This week's game won't determine which team that is, but Noah King would like to think of it as a warmup to a game with bigger stakes in March.