Tigers win State Class A title

MINNEAPOLIS—When Isaac Asuma was in the seventh-grade, the Cherry High School boys basketball team finished that season 0-23.

Five years later, the Tigers are the State Class A champions.

Cherry, which had won 18 previous games by 25 or more points, put together another dominant performance en route to a 78-40 State Class A finals victory over Fertile-Beltrami Saturday at Williams Arena.

Cherry finishes the season with a 31-2 record, and a 24-game winning streak.

After getting knocked out in the semifinals the two previous years, it felt good to finally complete their mission.

“Those last two years left a bad taste in our mouth,” Isaiah Asuma said. “We wanted to get back down here, get to work and win a state championship. That’s been a dream of everyone.”

The third time was the charm.

“It’s amazing,” Isaac Asuma said. “It’s been a goal of ours for the last three years, since we went to state the first time. To finally get it done, it’s amazing. Now, we’re state champions, that’s pretty cool.”

This Cherry team becomes the third team at the school to win a state title, along with the baseball and softball teams.

“It’s super special to be remembered in the history books forever,” Isaac said. “After last year’s state tournament, it was definitely a disappointment. This year, everyone worked hard over the summer, and we were ready to bounce back.

“We came back down to play to the best of our abilities. We came out here and proved it.”

The Tigers staked their claim to that first title with an 11-0 run to start the game.

Noah Sundquist and Noah Asuma led the assault with four and five points, respectively, but in no way did Cherry think the game was over.

“We knew that they were a team that was going to give us a punch like our coaches are always saying,” Noah Asuma said. “We were the hunted. We were going to be the one seed all year, and everyone is going to come out in the first eight minutes and give us everything they’ve got.

“We knew it wasn’t over. We were going to come out hot like we did. We knew they were going to give us a punch.”

With Cherry’s resume, however, not many teams are able to come back once they get a double-digit lead.

Even so, the Tigers weren’t about celebrate too soon.

Cherry was going to play at a higher level.

“We know that the game isn’t over in the first six minutes,” Isaiah said. “They were down here for a reason, and we knew that we had to keep pushing.”

Noah Sundquist did punch back, scoring 13 points in the first 11 minutes of play to give the Tigers a 26-6 lead.

“That helps when he gets going like that,” Cherry coach Jordan Christianson said. “He can get things going. He’s the Dennis Rodman of the Iron Range. He’s been our motor all year. We go as his energy goes. His energy is contagious.

“When he starts with that, 13 points right away, kind of energy, it’s contagious to everybody else.”

The Tigers then went on two other runs in the first half, one of 13-2 and 15-2 to end the half with a 43-21 lead.

“I think a lot of our offense starts from our defense,” Isaac said. “We get out and run in transition. It’s getting our hands in passing lanes, contesting all of the shots, finishing plays with rebounding.

“That’s what our true strength of the team is, then we can get out and run in transition. We feed off of our play defensively.”

Everyone contributes.

“We do a good job of trusting each other,” Noah said. “If one guy has a bad game, we always trust that the next person is going to step up and fill their spot. We do a good job as a team trusting each other to step up.

“We envision controlling what we could control as a team, and worrying about ourselves.”

To make matters worse for the Falcons, they didn’t score until 12:35 remained in the first half, and Fertile-Beltrami couldn’t get any stops.

“They’re tough to defend,” Fertile-Beltrami coach Neil Steffes said. “They have five athletes out there that can run and jump and get up-and-down the floor. Isaac is a Division I player, and you don’t have many Division I players in A basketball.

“We’ve got some guys that can stick with him a little bit, but we don’t have enough. It’s hard when you have five guys that are as athletic as they are. They’re built. They’re solid. We don’t have the biggest guys in the world. We didn’t have a lot of size on them either.”

After playing a three-overtime game against West Central Area Friday, were the Falcons a little tired?

“We tried to play a little zone today, thinking that the game we played Friday, we were going to be a little tired,” Steffes said. “It worked at times, but our legs weren’t quite there. We had a hard time making shots. A lot of our shots were short.

“Even in the zone, our guys were always a step behind. We didn’t have a lot of legs at the end of the day. They didn’t get any transition points. We got back, but they shot the ball well. It wasn’t our day.”

Preston Harris came out and hit five quick points for the Falcons to start the second half, but once again, in typical Cherry fashion, the Tigers countered that with a 10-0 run to take a 27-point lead, 53-26.

From there, Cherry cruised to its first state-tournament title.

It was a dream come true for the Asuma brothers and cousin, Isaiah.

“Ever since we started playing basketball, we used to pretend scenarios in the driveway, like down two to win the state championship,” Noah said. “To grow up and to see it finally come true, playing in these big games, it’s a blessing.”

It’s a far cry from that 0-23 season.

“It’s been awesome,” Isaac said. “Since he came in we turned around the program. He’s a tough coach, but he’s super encouraging. He’s going to give you all of the confidence in the world.

“That’s something that helps everybody on our team. He puts in so much time making our scouting reports, staying after practice and talking to everybody to see how they’re doing. We’re blessed to have such a good coach.”

Noah Asuma finished with 22 points. Sundquist had 15, and Carson Brown 14.

Caiden Swenby had 14 for the Falcons. Hanson finished with 13.

Sundquist, Isaac Asuma, Noah Asuma, Isaiah Asuma were all named to the all-tournament team.

CHS 43 35—78

FB 21 19—40

Cherry: Noah Sundquist 15, Isaac Asuma 12, Noah Asuma 22, Isaiah Asuma 4, Carson Brown 14, Andrew Staples 5, Landan Ruotsalainen 6.

Fertile-Beltrami:Derek Sorenson 6, Mason Nowacki 4, Caiden Swenby 14, Preston Hanson 13, Easton Petry 3.

Total Fouls: Cherry 9; Fertile-Beltrami 10; Fouled Out: None; Free Throws: Cherry 5-6; Fertile-Beltrami 1-1; 3-pointers: Sundquist, Noah Asuma 3, Brown 2, Staples, Ruotsalainen 2, Swenby 2, Hanson 2, Petry.