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Noah Sundquist had the game of his life on Wednesday at Williams Arena, leading the Cherry Tigers to a 68-55 victory over Border West in their Class A Quarterfinal round battle. Sundquist made 14-of-15 field goals, including 2-of-3 from beyond the arc, and finished with 30 points. He also had 5 rebounds, 2 assists and 2 steals to lead the Tigers into the championship semifinals on Friday at Target Center.
As a team, Cherry finished with a 61.7% shooting percentage, making 29-of-47 from the floor. They also held a 29-19 advantage on the boards.
Minnesota Gopher commit Isaac Asuma was in foul trouble throughout the game, sitting out over seven minutes in the first half with 3 fouls and then nearly seven more minutes after picking up his fourth foul with just over 12 minutes remaining in the game. Despite sitting for nearly 15 minutes of the game, Asuma still recorded a double-double with 11 points and 11 rebounds, while dishing out 7 assists. He was 5-for-7 from the field. Carson Brown (8 points, 4 assists), Noah Asuma (6 points, 7 rebounds, 3 assists, 3 steals) and Isaiah Asuma (7 points, 2 assists) also turned in strong performances on the court.
Clint Determan scored 13 of his team high 19 points in the first half and added six rebounds. Determan got most of his first half points by attacking the basket, however, Cherry made defensive changes that clogged the lane and prevented that type of success in the second half. Dylan Bainbridge finished with 12 points, 3 assists and 3 steals, and Cole Gilsdorf came through with 7 points and 7 boards. Grant Dawson ended up with 8 points and 2 assists. The Buccaneers shot 44.4% (20-45) for the game.
The Bucs jumped out to a 5-0 lead when Determan nailed a 3 pointer on their first possession and then capitalized on a turnover for a 2 point field goal. They led 7-6 when Cherry took the lead on a 3 by Sundquist. The Tigers never trailed after that, taking a 34-28 halftime advantage.
Border West hung around in the second half, three times cutting the lead to two points, the final time with just 6:10 remaining when Determan buried a 3 to make the score 52-50. At that point, Isaac Asuma re-entered the game. He assisted on a 3 by Brown with 4:54 left, giving Cherry a 55-50 lead. That trey started a 14-1 run by the Vikings as they took control building a 66-51 lead with just 1:06 on the clock.
Border West (26-3) saw their 23 game winning streak come to an end. They will now face Nevis at 10:00am Thursday at Gangelhoff Center on the campus of Concordia University in St. Paul in the consolation semifinals.
Cherry (27-4) has now won ten straight games. They will battle top-seeded Russell-Tyler-Ruthton on Friday at noon.