Cherry vs New Life Academy Game Report
In this article:
Friday, December 30, 2022 at the Breakdown Granite City Classic Cherry matched up with New Life Academy at St. Cloud State University. In a competitive battle NLA came out ahead of Cherry 66-60. NLA continued to stay undefeated, now 8-0…
Access all of Prep Hoops
Continue reading this article and more.
Continue ReadingFriday, December 30, 2022 at the Breakdown Granite City Classic Cherry matched up with New Life Academy at St. Cloud State University. In a competitive battle NLA came out ahead of Cherry 66-60. NLA continued to stay undefeated, now 8-0 and Cherry slipped to 4-3.
Isaac Asuma Isaac Asuma 6’3″ | PG Cherry | 2024 State #102 Nation MN is a dependable and reasonably skilled player who can be trusted to do whatever he’s asked to do more than adequately. The number of times now I’ve had the opportunity to watch Asuma, he just handles everything so cool and collected, and I walk away still impressed with another skillset. Versus New Life Academy it was the passes he is able to make to allow his teammates chances to make plays. Isaac always seems to make the right play at the right time.
Colton Hendricks Colton Hendricks 6’7″ | PF New Life Academy | 2023 MN is a six-foot-seven-inch forward from New Life Academy. Hendricks in this contest made plays in a various ways to keep NLA in the game until the end when they pulled away. While he led NLA in scoring, 19 points, he managed 3 blocks to lead the defense, and collect a couple steals. Using his height advantage, Hendricks displayed soft hands on catches, moved into position on the block for post scores, and stretched the defense by knocking down 2 long range shots.
Highlights
Erick Reader Erick Reader 6’8″ | C New Life Academy | 2023 State MN is a six-foot-eight-inch forward from New Life Academy that has committed to the University of Minnesota as a walk-on. Reader showcased some solid rebounding and pushing skills, displaying he’s able to bring the ball up the court. One play doing so he drove and found Hendricks for an open 3-pointer. Reader’s size allowed him ample opportunity close to the basket, he showed skills of stretching the floor knocking down an outside shot, and had solid passing skills to teammates.
A way to keep things close when it appeared Cherry would pull away on made baskets was Max Briggs Max Briggs 6’0″ | PG New Life Academy | 2023 State MN ability to immediately push the ball up the court off made baskets. Briggs did it either with a speed dribble and a pass ahead on the wing, or outlet passes to streaking teammates for lay-ups. While Briggs wasn’t called upon in this contest to carry a large scoring load, he managed on my count 9 assists but more important, he ran the offensive like a general by controlling pace. Briggs defensively moved freely, didn’t get caught up often, and on a Senior heavy team, worked very much together to mitigate some of the excellent passing showcased by Cherry.
A six-foot-two-inch 2025 guard from Cherry Noah Sundquist Noah Sundquist 6’3″ | SF Cherry | 2025 State MN attacked the paint consistently and scored as well. Sundquist finished the game with 16 points, 14 of which came in the painted area. Sundquist is a willing and accurate passer, at times probing the defense to give teammates chances for scores. Defensively gets himself in passing lanes to collect steals.
Isaiah Asuma Isaiah Asuma 5'11" | SG Cherry | 2027 State MN
Isaiah Asuma Isaiah Asuma 5'11" | SG Cherry | 2027 State MN
Six-foot-one-inch 2027 eighth grader Isaiah Asuma Isaiah Asuma 5’11” | SG Cherry | 2027 State MN continues to show-up. Isaiah was frequently open cutting behind the defense for close range shots making 6 short shots scoring 12 points in the contest. Isaiah also had the task of guarding NLA’s point guard Max Briggs Max Briggs 6’0″ | PG New Life Academy | 2023 State MN . Flanking him for the nearly the entire game, again, the underclassman displayed much more seasoning guarding the Senior guard.