Breakdown Summer State: Class A Results

<!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Cherry stood out head and shoulders over the other top Class A teams at the Summer State Tournament. Here are the results and we learned from each team!</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Class A Results</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>First. Cherry (3-0)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Second. Nevis (2-1)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Third. Dawson-Boyd (2-1)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Consolation Champ. Spring Grove (2-1).</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Fourth. RTR (1-2).</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Sixth. Deer River (1-2).</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Seventh. BOLD (1-2).</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Last. Lester Prairie (0-3)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Cherry</strong>, The Tigers looked head and shoulders above the competition winning this event convincingly. They have the best player in Class A basketball, they seem to have the most talented depth in Class A basketball, and finally all of this talent is starting to mature and be of similar age to the teams that have knocked them out of the state tournament each of the last two years. They will be the big favorite next winter. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Nevis</strong>. The win that really caught my eye was Nevis beating Dawson-Boyd by 11 points to make the title game. That's a victory to hang your hat on. Nevis was the only team to put a run on Cherry and make them sweat just a little bit. They have ball handlers in Christian Moe and Spencer Lindow, they have a shooter in [player_tooltip player_id='1284161' first='John' last='Paul Benson'], a scorer in [player_tooltip player_id='2398568' first='Austin' last='Ahrendt'], and a big in [player_tooltip player_id='2103319' first='Alex' last='Lester']. And they are matured and experienced having went to state last year. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Dawson-Boyd</strong>. Beating Lester Prairie and RTR convincingly is a good weekend. And here's what you need to know about DB, [player_tooltip player_id='1411178' first='Brayson' last='Boike'] would be the top player in Class A most years ([player_tooltip player_id='1288733' first='Isaac' last='Asuma'] is an oddity for Class A hoops) but this team is more than just their star. Six-foot-6 junior [player_tooltip player_id='1874834' first='Drew' last='Hjelmeland'] is another 2025 to keep your eyes on after both he and Brayson shot 40 plus percent at the arc last year scoring 15 and 20 a game respectively. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Spring Grove</strong>. Not only did Spring Grove lose players to graduation but [player_tooltip player_id='1284133' first='Elijah' last='Solum'] has been injured and will miss a big part of his senior year of athletics. And still.... Spring Grove pushed Nevis and then beat Lester Prairie and Deer River. It's not just the depth of talent there (which is strong) but it's also the way they play. Well coached. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>RTR</strong>. The defending champs have a lot of pieces to replace but I think they are in a pretty good spot with all state [player_tooltip player_id='1284129' first='Drew' last='Werkman'] coming back plus the Christianson Boys (they are cousins) stepping into bigger roles. I liked the way that Blake and Chase played around Werkman this weekend. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Deer River</strong>. Beat BOLD, gave a game to RTR and Spring Grove, [player_tooltip player_id='1582113' first='Cale' last='Jackson'] and Deer River always seem to be right there as a top ten team and potential contender. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>BOLD</strong>. The guys around [player_tooltip player_id='1587155' first='Jack' last='Gross'] need to settle into roles and get experience and they will be a contender again. Jack himself is one of the best players in Class A basketball. Very solid prospect. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Lester Prairie</strong>. The Bulldogs got out to an early lead on Dawson-Boyd and then lost their best player (Trever Schauer) to an injury, and from there it was tough. They were already without their second leading scorer [player_tooltip player_id='2093705' first='Alek' last='Hodny'] so losing Schauer as well was too tough to overcome. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph -->