The expectation for Minnehaha Academy boys basketball was always to win championships after the success of recent alumni and current NBA standouts Chet Holmgren and Jalen Suggs.

Still, the Redhawks entered this year’s boys basketball state tournament as the No. 3 seed in Class 2A. They were also the youngest team in the field and Jadee Jones was in his first year as head coach.

This year’s team could have leaned into a rebuilding period and taken time to live up to the program’s winning tradition, right? Why wait, though?

Minnehaha Academy won its first Class 2A title since 2021 after ending No. 1-ranked Goodhue’s 24-game winning streak with an 81-69 victory at Williams Arena on Saturday, March 28.

For their title run, Jones and his Redhawks were named Strib Varsity’s Taco Bell Team of the Week.

“I could not be more proud of my team,” Jones said. “They showed a ton of character, a ton of grit.”

Minnehaha Academy trailed Goodhue by two points at halftime, but it outscored the Wildcats 53-39 in the second half on 65% shooting from the field, including 5-for-7 from three-point range and 14-for-19 from the foul line.

Kellen Troup scored 20 of his team-high 24 points in the second half on 8-for-9 shooting from the field, to go with eight rebounds.

The 6-7 junior had a couple of crowd-pleasing dunks to rally his Redhawks teammates and fire up the crowd. But Troup’s 4-for-4 shooting from three-point range really took his confidence to another level, especially after he went 0-for-5 from long distance in his first two state tournament games.

“[My] coach’s trust in me, that’s the number one part,” Troup said. “My teammates’ trust in me. I knew one of them was going to fall. I couldn’t miss in the whole tournament. Perfect timing.”

Junior guard Ayden Green also had 20 of his 21 points in the second half, including 12-for-14 shooting from the foul line in the period.

“We knew it was the last game of the season,” Green said. “We knew we had to put it all out there for [the state title] game. Put it all on the line.”

Troup, Green and eighth-grade point guard Carter Cupito were named to the Class 2A all-tournament team.

In the 77-69 quarterfinal win, Troup, Green and Cupito combined for 61 points to overcome Waseca guard Deron Russell’s 51-point performance to advance.

Green then had a team-high 14 points in a 50-46 victory over No. 2 seed Pequot Lakes in the semifinals, including all of his team’s seven points in the final 1:41 of the game.

Minnehaha Academy’s talented trio made the biggest plays during the title run, but they also got contributions from others, including senior Malachi Snell and sophomore Masen Thao and freshman Mehki Abner, who produced 10 points and 14 rebounds off the bench vs. Goodhue, respectively.

That total team effort is what turned the Redhawks into state champions once again. It was their fifth title in the past 13 years.

“Being a part of the opportunity to add to that historic reputation is part of the reason why I took the job,” Jones said. “I’ve been blessed with the group of guys I was given. And it means a lot because you have to be lucky, you have to work really hard and you have to have a good enough group of guys to reach this level.”