The State Tournament: Friday’s Top Performers

<!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Who shined brightest Friday at the state semi-finals? We give you the names!</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='1575328' first='Ezekial' last='Austin'] of Albany (2025).&nbsp; Austin started the semi-final with two threes, three assists, and another three quickly helping the Huskies to 19 points before Caledonia had three scores.&nbsp; He finished the game with 22 points, nine rebounds and seven assists with five threes made overall.&nbsp; It was a hot start followed by a steady play the rest of the way.&nbsp;</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>AJ Bessler of Nevis (2026).&nbsp; Bessler has progressed a ton and we have been talking about what we could see from him in AAU and potentially next year as a top Class A player. Today he took things a step further with 39 points on an incredible 17 of 26 shooting most of which was in the paint.&nbsp; Bessler has been developing all season but this was the statement game.&nbsp;</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='1411178' first='Brayson' last='Boike'] of Dawson-Boyd (2025). The monster state tournament of Boike continued today as he put up 28 points on 12 of 18 shooting with a couple threes.&nbsp; He was just physically on another level of every player on the court and there was nothing Red Lake County could do with him.&nbsp;</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='1579911' first='Carson' last='Brown'] of Cherry (2025). Brown missed one field goal and one foul shot, but made the other eight field goal attempts and sank the other six foul shots. That was good for 22 points plus he had eight rebounds and seven assists. Never came out of the game.&nbsp;</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='1628768' first='Connor' last='Duden'] of Red Lake County (2026).&nbsp; Duden put up 30 points in the state tournament and there are not many players that can say they've done that.&nbsp; His team came up short but Connor knocked out six threes and 12 of 22 shots overall.&nbsp; Duden's role in this game was to score and he did it at a very high level.&nbsp;</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='1874834' first='Drew' last='Hjelmeland'] of Dawson-Boyd (6'7, 2025). Drew scored 17 points hitting a couple threes but his biggest contributions were his paint play on the defensive end and his passing of the basketball.&nbsp; Drew had eight assists plus he blocked three shots and grabbed ten defensive boards.&nbsp; He ended numerous RLC possessions helping the Jacks to the state title game. Drew had 13 boards total.&nbsp;</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='1574225' first='Miles' last='Newton'] of Breck (6'4, 2025).&nbsp; Miles physically is ahead of others with his strength and explosive agility.&nbsp; His jumper has come around but his active off ball scores are likely the toughest thing to stop.&nbsp; He had 24 points with nine rebounds.&nbsp;</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='2121332' first='Deron' last='Russell'] of Breck (6'2, 2026).&nbsp; Russell was the player of the day. One guy said to me “he is having an out of body experience right now!” he was so good.&nbsp; Deron scored 38 points on 14 of 23 shooting with four threes and six of six foul shots.&nbsp; He made threes, pull-ups off of separations despite incredible over-helping to him, he attacked to score, and Deron found his way to small window baskets. His scoring willed his team to the title game.&nbsp; An incredible performance.&nbsp;</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph -->