Cherry won its first-ever state title a year ago behind the efforts of star senior guard Isaac Asuma. Now, the Tigers are in position to do it again without him.
Carson Brown had 22 points, eight boards and seven assists Friday as top-seeded Cherry downed fourth-seeded Nevis, 79-70, at Williams Arena in the Class A semifinals.
The Tigers will meet second-seeded Dawson-Boyd at 11 a.m. Saturday in the state title bout.
Brown, Noah Asuma and Isaiah Asuma all played every second Friday for Cherry, which was pushed to the brink in the semis. The two teams were in tight contention throughout.
An AJ Bessler layup brought Nevis to within two with 88 ticks to play, but that marked Nevis’ last score of the game as Cherry closed the contest on a 7-0 run.
Noah Sundquist had 17 points and 13 boards for Cherry (31-1)
Bessler tallied 39 points and six rebounds for Nevis (27-5), while Alex Lester added 22 points, 12 rebounds and five assists.
Dawson-Boyd 80, Red Lake County 66
Dawson-Boyd shot a blistering 60% from the field as star senior Brayson Boike finished with 28 points on 12-for-18 shooting. Dawson-Boyd tallied 25 assists on 33 made shots.
Still, third-seeded Red Lake County was right there more than midway through the game, and actually led in the early minutes of the second half. But Red Lake County went cold for a four-and-a-half minute stretch in the second stanza that allowed the Dawson-Boyd lead to grow to 11.
Connor Duden led Red Lake County with 30 points, including six made triples.
Albany 59, Caledonia 54
Zeke Austin had 22 points, nine rebounds and seven assists for top-seeded Albany, which jumped out to a 25-5 lead. But fourth-seeded Caledonia rallied to cut the deficit to just 11 by the break, and opened the second half on a 5-0 run.
The Warriors tied the game on a triple from Mason King with 4 minutes to play but were done in from there, largely by missed free throws. King finished with 20 points on the strength of six triples.
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