One of the most impressive and improbable state championship runs in recent years culminated with No. 5-seeded Chaska defeating No. 7 seed Apple Valley 63-55 on Saturday, March 28, for the Hawks’ first Class 4A boys basketball title since 2004.

The genesis of that improbable run of 25 straight wins started weeks into the 2025-26 season, when Chaska coach Nick Hayes challenged his team after a 3-4 start to become a group that not only played together, but made defense a major part of its identity.

“It’s hard to find words for how proud I am of these guys,” said Hayes, who said his team held the final six opponents to 60 points or fewer. “We always talk team basketball. It just shows the guys were bought in playing team ball. Offense is fun, but we talk about defense is winning championships.”

The Hawks’ first win in the streak came less than 24 hours after a three-point loss to Prior Lake in the Shakopee Holiday Classic on Dec. 29.

They beat Minnetonka the following day to end the event, and then dominated Andover on the road by 34 points the following week, which started a winning streak that lasted the entire season.

A program that won 21 games the previous two seasons combined would suddenly win 25 in a row.

“That week of practice was fantastic,” Hayes said about the first victory of the 25-game winning streak. “We pushed the guys and called them out and they responded.”

Senior guard Evan Atkinson called it a “surreal feeling” that Chaska could go from an 11-win season to a state championship the following year.

Never before had a fifth seed and a seventh seed competed for the Class 4A title. The matchup of two overlooked underdogs produced a surprise champion in the Hawks (28-4), who upset No. 1 Tartan in the tournament semifinals. The Eagles (21-11) took out No. 2 Wayzata and No. 3 Maple Grove to reach their first title game since 2018.

“It’s crazy,” Chaska junior Tyler Forrest said. “We’re all like brothers now. We spend so much time together. It’s been four months now. We have such a good relationship together. It means so much to do it with these guys.”

Chaska’s players — arguably a group that played the best team ball of anyone this year — carried the trophy to celebrate with their rowdy student section after the victory.

Apple Valley was held to 30% shooting from the floor, but Trey Parker had 33 points, including six three-pointers and a baseline jumper that cut the Eagles’ deficit to 57-55 with 96 seconds remaining.

The Hawks, who had four players in double figures but none over 12 points, didn’t panic. They relied on their championship-caliber defense to keep Apple Valley scoreless the rest of the way. They also got a clutch performance at the foul line from an unsung hero.

Junior forward Kalin Jochum sunk six consecutive free throws in the last 1:27 to seal Chaska’s biggest victory in more than 20 years. He finished tied with freshman Jed Keenan with a team-high 12 points on 8-for-8 free throw shooting.

“Just being proud is going through me,” Jochum said. “Eleven wins last year, 10 the year before and nine the year before that, it just means so much for me personally to be around these guys and finish it off.”

Hayes and Apple Valley coach David Collier both took over their boys basketball programs in 2022, but expectations were much different at the time.

Two years before Collier took over, the Eagles were led by Zach Goring, who won three Class 4A titles in 11 years, which included a memorable run with brothers Tyus and Tre Jones.

Following so closely to an era that produced three current NBA players definitely brought some added pressure, especially when Collier went 4-22 in his first season in 2022-23.

The Eagles were able to keep talented players such as Parker and Camare’ Young around for four years to help them reach back-to-back state tournaments for the first time since the Jones brothers, who reached out to Collier “wanting us to win just as bad as these kids.”

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1/29

“It doesn’t matter what the names are or anything like that,” Collier said. “We’re going to play a certain style and play a certain way. We’re just going to compete at the highest possible level.”

BOXSCORE: Chaska 63, Apple Valley 55

The pressure wasn’t as heavy for Hayes, but he took over a program from Dana Kallman, who had several winning seasons during his 18 years, but only one state tourney trip in 2017.

The Hawks hadn’t won a title since former Gopher and Mr. Basketball recipient Spencer Tollackson, a TV analyst for the state tourney Saturday, led them to the 4A championship 22 years ago.

With several talented players expected to return, Chaska hopes it is just getting started.

“We had a few years with more losses than wins,” Hayes said. “But I always felt like we were competing against tough teams. We felt like every year we were playing our best basketball at the end of the year. That’s what we ask from our guys. It’s fun to win a lot of games, but our goal as coaches is to play our best basketball in March.”