It didn't matter to Esko what anyone else thought. All season the Eskomos believed that they were a force to be reckoned with, and they proved it with a convincing 60-41 victory over No. 1-seeded Annandale to win the first basketball state championship in school history.

"When we got beat by Litchfield here last year, they played like the big dogs," Esko coach Mike Devney said. "I told the team that this year we're the big dogs. We understood how to play in the state tournament. You have to be physical and you have to be disciplined. We did that."

After Annandale wore out Caledonia in the semifinals with its incessant attacking style, there was the thought that Esko, hailing from northeastern Minnesota — never considered a basketball hotbed — might not be able to keep up with the fleet Cardinals. The Eskomos put an end to that nonsense quickly.

Controlling the opening tip, they worked more than a minute and a half off the clock before taking a 2-0 lead on a Casey Staniger field goal. It was just one basket, but the tone had been set. Esko wasn't backing down.

"We came in with that big-dog mentality," said senior forward Kory Deadrick. "People always write that teams from northern Minnesota will get stomped against teams from other areas. We wanted to show that we could play with anybody."

Long and lean, Esko frustrated Annandale all game, racing back on defense and not allowing the helter-skelter Cardinals any chance to throw their long downcourt passes and get easy baskets. Even though Deadrick, Esko's leading scorer, shot poorly in the first half, the Eskomos led 22-18 at halftime.

"Esko has a lot of ability," Annandale coach Skip Dolan said. "They're so tall. We couldn't throw our passes over them."

Esko's defense continued to frustrate Annandale in the second half. And with the 6-7 Deadrick heating up — he scored 12 of his 14 points after halftime — Esko pulled away gradually.

Marc Peterson led the Eskomos with 16 points, and Staniger added 13. Mark Miller scored 10 points for Annandale, which was held to a season-low point total.

"That's about what we allow every game," Peterson said. "Offense wins games, defense wins championships."