Boys basketball: Dawson-Boyd Blackjacks cash out with Class A crown

Mar. 22—MINNEAPOLIS — As Cory Larson and members of the Dawson-Boyd boys basketball team were introduced to the media following the Class A state championship, Larson had an addendum to the team's intro.

"Can we add something to that?" Larson asked with the smirk growing on his face. "State champions."

The elation carried over from the court after the second-seeded Blackjacks secured the first state boys basketball title in school history with an 81-74 victory over top-seeded Cherry Saturday at Williams Arena.

"All that hard work, it finally paid off," said Dawson-Boyd senior guard Brayson Boike. "We got what we wanted."

The Blackjacks (30-3) not only knocked off the defending state champion in the finals, they avenged one of their three losses from the regular season. The Tigers beat Dawson-Boyd 70-64 on Dec. 7 in the Breakdown Tip Off Classic.

"It showed us what a team that was championship level looked like," Boike said. "We knew we had a little ways to go and we got there."

Cherry knew they saw a different Blackjack squad from that early-season matchup, especially on the defensive end. After shooting 66.1% against BOLD in the quarterfinals and 56.9% against Nevis in the semis, Cherry (31-2) was held to 49.1% against Dawson-Boyd.

"Their defense definitely changed a lot this time," said Tigers senior guard Carson Brown. "Me and Zay (Isaiah Asuma), it was easier to get downhill last time than it was this time."

The Blackjacks led 38-32 at halftime. They went up by nine with 14 minutes, 6 seconds to play after Carson Stratmoen hit one of his four second-half 3-pointers to put his team up 51-42.

"Those threes were huge," Larson said of Stratmoen. "He's got range, like sometimes he doesn't realize where the actual 3-point line is. He's typically four feet or five feet behind it."

But, Cherry was able to find some room to operate in the second half. Drew Hjelmeland, a 6-foot-7 anchor of Dawson-Boyd's defense, was called for three first-half fouls. He got his fourth foul with 13:29 left in the game.

That foul was a catalyst for the Tigers to go on a 13-0 run that put them ahead 55-51 after Noah Asuma converted a traditional three-point play.

"A lot of our offense is trying to get downhill and if you have a 6-8 big in there, obviously it's going to alter people going downhill," Isaiah Asuma said. "When he was out, it was a lot easier to get in the lane and finish over smaller dudes."

Hjelmeland came back in with 11:49 left and managed to avoid that fifth foul. And he helped put the Blackjacks ahead for good. Hjelmeland and Boike hit back-to-back 3-pointers to tie the game at 59 and put Dawson-Boyd up 62-59 with 8:26 on the clock.

"Two threes, back to back, and six points, those were big points," Hjelmeland said. He finished with 17 points, six assists and five rebounds. "It was good to see those go in."

"That was huge," Larson chimed in.

Liebl helped the Blackjacks pull away by scoring eight points in a 10-0 run that put Dawson-Boyd ahead 73-61.

"It's a little town's dream come true," said Liebl, who finished with 20 points.

Boike played all 36 minutes for the Blackjacks, finishing with 29 points on 9 of 13 shooting. He also grabbed a team-high eight rebounds. Dealing with a cold throughout the tournament, Boike put down plenty of water and honey before the game to suppress his cough.

Winning helps with the symptoms, too.

"It doesn't feel real yet," the Southwest Minnesota State commit said afterwards. "It hasn't hit me. I'm glad I could end my career on a 'W.'"

For long-time stalwarts Hjelmeland and Boike, they ended the press conference with gratitude.

"I've been blessed to have a lot of amazing teammates that allowed me to become the player I am today and the person I am today," Boike said. "I just wanna say thank you to them."

Hjelmeland added, "Some of those guys that graduated before me, those guys did a lot for me."

The Blackjacks got to put some respect on their name on Saturday. They're Dawson-Boyd: state champions.

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Boys basketball: Dawson-Boyd Blackjacks cash out with Class A crown

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