Photo by Ari Selvey Marshall’s Oliver Voigt goes up for a contested shot against Mankato East in the Section 2AAA section championship Wednesday night at Gustavus Adolphus College in St. Peter. Voigt finished with 9 points and six rebounds in the Tigers’ 75-48 loss.

ST. PETER — Despite playing Mankato East tough in the first half of the Section 2AAA boys basketball tournament final, Marshall fell 75-48 to the Cougars Wednesday at Gustavus Adolphus College, ending the season as section runners-up. 

“We did a great job of executing our offense in the first half,” Marshall head coach Travis Carroll said. “Getting good shots, we were able to run some clock and get a good tempo offensively. That was good to see. Defensively, we were able to limit their transition just by our shot selection and not turning the basketball over. That was a big help for us in that first half. We had a 3-point game with under a minute left, and we lost [Lucas Gustafson] in the corner, and then we lost the transition battle where they hit a 3 at the end of the half. That was a big momentum for East going into halftime, because we were standing toe-to-toe with them at that point.”

Alex Franson led the Tigers with 16 points and three assists, while Oliver Voigt had 9 points and a team-high six rebounds. Cooper Mensink added 6 points for Marshall, going 2 for 2 from the perimeter.

Marshall started off the game with a 6-0 run, but East went on a 7-0 run to take the lead. Franson scored a layup to put the Tigers back in front, and the teams traded buckets for several possessions. Voigt made a layup before a parade to the free-throw line as 9 of the next 13 points were scored from the charity stripe. Three free throws from Franson tied the game at 17, as neither team could pull away. East finally got the advantage late with a 3-pointer by Gustafson, putting the Cougars up 32-26 before Amari Nobels made a one-legged 3-pointer as time was expiring to give East a 35-26 edge going into halftime. 

East’s defense dominated early in the second half, with the Cougars going on a 15-1 run with the Tigers struggling to score. 

“We came out the second half and just really struggled getting going,” Carroll said. “It kind of turned into some transition for East.”

The Cougars continued to score while holding the Marshall offense in check, going up by as much as 68-34. Marshall’s offense finally kicked back into gear, going on an 8-2 run to cut the lead to 72-48, but East scored one more 3-pointer to walk away with the win.

Marshall ends the season with a 20-9 record, a significant improvement from its 9-18 overall 2023-24 campaign.

The Tigers graduate their six seniors in Franson, Mensink, Mason Graven, Braxton Koster, Josh Leibfried and Jack Meier.

“A year ago, we were a seven seed in the section,” Carroll said. “There were a lot of doubters coming into this year as to where we could get to this coming season. We had a group of seniors coming back this summer and some underclassmen who came back this summer who decided to, ‘You know what, let’s work together as a group, let’s work together to try to accomplish our goals, because we can improve.’ It was great to see our group of kids get to 20 wins this season, and it’s great to see them accomplish getting the number two seed in the section. 

“It was awesome to see them overcome some adversity in the section semifinal game and get to the section finals. To think of where we’ve come from a year ago to where we’re at right now, it’s a great accomplishment for our basketball team. That’s a standard we can continue to do with the Marshall basketball program.”