COLUMBIA, Mo. &045; To some of the inner-city boys’ basketball teams at the 2003 University of Missouri Team Camp, the Albert Lea Tigers must have looked like a bunch of skinny farm kids.

They probably saw them a little differently at the end.

The Albert Lea contingent won the championship in the prestigious 61-team, four-day tournament that concluded Wednesday and included squads from five states.

In the four previous years, the winner of the tournament went on to win the Missouri state high school championship the following season.

&uot;It was great,&uot; said coach Matt Addington. &uot;We really weren’t sure what to expect, because it’s a group of guys who really hadn’t played together as a team. They played awesome. It’s the best a team has played together since I’ve been here, to be sure. They shared the ball.&uot;

Others shared Addington’s opinion.

Marcus Perez, Missouri’s associate head coach, told Addington the Tigers were, &uot;One of the hardest working and unselfish teams they’ve ever had down there.&uot;

After finishing 8-1 in Pool B &045; the lone loss a two-point setback to Westminster Christian of St. Louis &045; the Tigers were placed in Pool A for championship play, where they were pitted against what Addington called the top three teams in the tournament.

The Tigers defeated Columbia Hickman of Columbia, Mo., 62-47 in the opening round of championship play, then topped Bellevue East of suburban Omaha, Neb., 53-40. In the championship game, Albert Lea beat a Logan-Rogersville team that includes a 6-foot-9 Missouri recruit by a score of 54-45.

The final three games were played on Missouri’s court at Hearnes Center.

Ben Woodside, the Tribune’s Boys’ Basketball Player of the Year the last two years, averaged 35 points for the 11 games and, according to Addington, was invited to an open gym with some Missouri players. In the championship round Woodside totaled 105 points, including 40 against Bellevue East.

The rest of the Albert Lea squad included Ryan Moore, Mike Behrends, Ross Habben, Travis Klatt,

Mitch Kortz, Eric Shahan, Brock Sorenson, Preston Dahl and Jay Ackerman.

Addington said the Tigers impressed him with their execution of the game plan.

&uot;They made things look easy,&uot; he said. &uot;I think the light is coming on with some of the things we’ve been trying to do the last couple years.&uot;

Expectations for the 2003-04 Tigers is already higher than in many years. Minnesota Basketball News has Albert Lea rated as one of the top four teams in the state in Class 3A, earning them an invitation to the publication’s Sweet 16 tournament.

The showing in Missouri only adds to the enthusiasm.

&uot;For us to realize we can go in there and play with some of the better teams in the Midwest and play pretty well,&uot; said Addington. &uot;It gives you hope and something to look forward to next season, for sure.&uot;