Red Lake County vs. Cherry

Recap

Red Lake County vs. Cherry

Bemidji, MN — The Red Lake County Rebels knocked off the #1 ranked Cherry Tigers and ended their 46 game winning streak, dating back to last season, with a 78-77 win on Friday night.

Red Lake County came out hot to start the game jumping out to a 9-0 lead early in the first half. Cherry Tigers Head Coach Jordan Christianson would call a timeout to get on track, and they did. The Tigers would use a 15-6 run to take their first lead of the game 15-14. From there, the Tigers and Rebels would trade punches, with the first half deficit never growing beyond five. Red Lake County led at halftime 31-30.

In half number two, it was Cherry making a quick 7-2 run to lead 37-35. The Tigers would hang onto that lead for the vast majority of the second half, even going up by as much as seven points, 55-48. Red Lake County though would never back down from the top team in the land. Rebels Junior Connor Duden was on fire in the second half scoring 18 of his game high 26 points. The game of runs continued into the witching hour of the second half with RLC leading by seven with just minutes to play and Cherry storming back to take the lead  77-75. Then with just over 10 seconds to play, Red Lake County had the basketball under their own hoop for a baseline out of bounds. Owen Chervestad who inbounded the ball, found Connor Duden open on the right side the hoop as he slipped free but would miss the layup. Fortunately, Rebels Luke Peterson was johnny on the spot on the left side for the offensive rebound, put back, and he got fouled. The put back tied the game and Peterson’s made free throw gave Red Lake County the 78-77 lead. Cherry would come up empty on the ensuing possession with 8.4 seconds to play despite getting two chances, a good look from 3-point range and mid range shot at the buzzer.

With the win, Red Lake County ends the Cherry Tigers 46 game winning streak, which dates back to last season. Red Lake County is now 21-1 on the year and will be at Mahnomen/Waubun next Tuesday. For Cherry, they drop their first game since December 28th, 2023 and fall to 22-1 on the season. The Tigers will play Northland next Tuesday.

Red Lake County Rebels Stats 

Connor Duden 26 pts 4 rebs
Owen Chervestad 17 pts 9 rebs
Will Gieseke 11 pts 4 rebs
Luke Peterson 10 pts 4 rebs
Ben Gullingsrud 6 pts 3 rebs
Ethan Johnson 6 pts 2
Gunnar Halvorson 2 pts 1 reb

7/9 FT’s – 77%
29 Team Rebounds
12 Turnovers

Cherry Tigers Stats

Noah Sundquist 21 pts 4 rebs
Noah Asuma 14 pts 7 rebs
Isaiah Asuma 14 pts 1 reb
Carson Brown 10 pts 3 rebs
Ayden Cappo 8 pts 4 rebs
Mason Heitzman 8 pts 1 reb
Kalub Brown 2 pts 2 rebs

19/24 FT’s – 79%
22 Team Rebounds
2 Turnovers

comments from RLC coach Steve Philion