Cherry throttled Hayfield in the feature game at this year's (that is, yesterday's) Boys Tip-Off 62-43, avenging their 72-61 loss to the state champion Vikings in last year's state semi-finals. Hayfield took early leads of 11-5 and 13-10 as all-state senior Isaac Matti drilled 3 straight 3-pointers and also put an aggressive defense on Cherry's all-state junior Isaac Asuma.
But Cherry caught up at 15 and 18 on a pair of 3s by the vastly-improved 8th grader Isaiah Asuma, then went ahead for the first time as Isaac Asuma scored for the first time. Isaiah hit another 3 to make it 29-22. At the half it was 33-24 as Carson Brown had 12 points and Isaiah 11. Cherry never looked back, scoring on their first 2 possessions of the 2nd half to lead by 13. Hayfield never got closer than 8, and in fact soon trailed 53-33 as now it was 9th grader Noah Asuma who scored 5 buckets and big brother Isaac 3.
In last year's tournament semi-final, Cherry lacked scoring punch from anybody other than Isaac Asuma, who scored 36 of the Bears 61 points. Now, his brothers are a year older, though still just in 8th (Isaiah) and 9th (Noah) grade. And they've also added two transfers from Hibbing (so I'm told) in sophomores Noah Sundquist and Carson Brown, who scored 28 ppg between them last year. Meanwhile, Hayfield lost 2 starters, and it was the Vikings who seemed to lack scoring punch behind Isaac Matti.
So, Isaac Asuma finished with 17 points, Noah 16, Isaiah 15 and Brown 14. Isaac, who played a remarkably patient and unselfish game as the focus of the Hayfield defense, also added 12 rebounds, 7 assists and 2 blocks. Cherry made 15-of-36 2s (42%), 8-of-19 3s (also 42%) and 8-of-9 FT. The bottom line is that Cherry plays with a pace and precision that make them very, very hard to defend.
Hayfield got 23 points from Matti on 8-of-18 shooting. Next best was Ethan Pack with 8 points on 4-of-13. Matti added 10 rebounds, but also 7 turnovers. Hayfield shot 17-for-52 overall (33%) but won the battle of the boards 35-28, including 9 offensive boards and a 10-3 edge in 2nd chance points. But the turnovers were 16 for Hayfield and 7 for Cherry, and the Bears had a 14-6 edge in points off turnovers.
Hayfield was #1 in the pre-season polls, Cherry #4. So maybe Cherry could claim the #1 spot, but #2 BBE and #3 New Life might have something to say about that. But considering that BBE lost 3 starters from last year's state runner-up and New Life lost high-scoring Kollin Kaemingk, well, we'll just have to wait and see. But it is very hard to imagine that Cherry won't be one of the last four or more likely two standing in Class A come March,
The Rest of the Morning and Early Afternoon
I saw the morning and afternoon games. I did not stay into the wee hours of the evening, which I now regret, seeing the scores of some of those games!
But, the 2nd best game that I saw featured a Holy Family comeback win over Plainview-Elgin-Millville 65-62. PEM led throughout the first half as 6-7 Aeron Stevens torched the Fire for 6 3s, a couple of 2s and at least 3 assists. Holy Family's 6-11 Boden Kapke started out very slowly but got it going late in the 1st half and throughout the 2nd, showing that he is indeed a solid D1 prospect who can run the floor and play a stretch 4 at the next level. Holy Family guard Kole Hanson sealed the deal with a steal-and-2 inside of 2 minutes. I haven't seen a box score for this one but I'd guess that Stevens was probably close to 30, Kapke and Hanson in the 15 to 18 range.
Holy Family is rated #2 in the pre-season polls behind Minnehaha in Class AA while PEM is #3. But PEM was missing its 2nd best player, guard Chase Fogelson, who was at the football all-star game, and PEM beat Holy Family by 17 in a fall ball game. So it's pretty early to worry about the pecking order here.
While I was busy with Cherry and Hayfield, I missed most of another great game in which DeLaSalle beat Minnetonka 69-67 on a buzzer beater. I didn't see it but I would have to think it was by Nasir Whitlock, who was the only Islander in double figures with 35 points. I did watch enough of the game to say that these are 2 really athletic teams, and Whitlock gives the Islanders that little something extra at crunch time. Not saying they can beat Totino-Grace and I'm not saying they can't. Of course, you also can no longer say that Totino is unbeatable.
I also paid some attention to an entertaining early morning matchup of Andover and Robbinsdale Cooper. Andover was also missing its best player, football all-star Sam Musungu, and without him, Cooper overwhelmed Andover with its tremendous quickness 94-83. I couldn't find a Cooper box score but I remember that #2 Sam Massaquoi was terrific. Meanwhile, Ben Kopetski continued his torrid play with Musungu out, scoring 40 yesterday after 46 on Friday night.
Lake Crystal-Wellcome Memorial impressed in another early, early game, beating Concordia 81-62 as 5 players, 4 of them seniors, scored in double figures. Robbinsdale Armstrong edged Rosemount 53-51 as 4 players, 3 of them juniors or younger, scored in double digits.
Next up was yet another entertaining game, as Mahtomedi pulled away from a 35-all halftime tie to beat Stewartville 74-67. Will Underwood scored 29 for the winners. Will Tschetter 21 for Stew.
Then tell me if you've heard this one before. #3AAA Orono beats Hopkins 95-84 on Friday, then beats #1AA Minnehaha 106-97 on Saturday. No, I didn't think you'd heard of such a thing before. So far, Isaiah Hagen is scoring 30 ppg, Nolan Groves 22 and Kyle Kallenbach 17. Grant Gunderson is scoring 9 with 9 assists. Yesterday Hagen scored 29, Groves 26 and Gunderson 13 with 9 assists and 11 rebounds. Orono surely plays at one of if not the fastest pace in the state.
People Talk
So, hangin' out at the Tip-Off, you not only see some pretty good basketball but you get to gossip with some of the biggest basketball nerds around. And, what I heard was this. Some folks saw Park Center beat DeLaSalle 102-71 last Thursday. Park Center, they said, is unbeatable. On the other hand, they play Lakeville North next Saturday night at 8:30 at Osseo. You might have heard that Lakeville North beat that other previously unbeatable team, Totino-Grace, last night 68-65.
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