Russell-Tyler-Ruthton’s Aiden Wichmann (14) plays on-ball defense against a Cherry player.

One game at a time has been the mantra all season for the Russell-Tyler-Ruthton boys basketball team. Now, they are on the cusp of completing a season-long goal of winning a championship. The top-seeded Knights will face off against No. 2 New Life Academy for the Class A championship at the Target Center today at 11 a.m.

The Knights are coming off a close victory against No. 4 Cherry 61-57 on Friday afternoon. Despite getting outrebounded 32-18 and having more turnovers in the ballgame, the Knights pulled out a victory.

RTR (30-1) shot 57% from the 3-point line and missed one free throw out of 14 attempts. The Knights’ defense also held the Tigers to 57 points, which was their third-lowest-scoring output of the season. Since the start of the section playoffs, the Knights have averaged 71.3 points per game and have won in a variety of ways, including three close calls and three wins by double digits.

New Life Academy (26-5) is coming off a victory 51-35 over Spring Grove to advance to the finals. The Eagles used a pressure defense that forced 16 turnovers. The Eagles had 24 turnovers themselves and outscored Spring Grove 33-17 in the second half. Erick Reader had a double-double with 11 points and a game-high 15 rebounds.

The Eagles are on a 12-game winning streak and are the only team to go undefeated in their section at (8-0).

“They’re a well-balanced team with size and they like to play uptempo,” RTR head coach Daren Gravley said. “I think we have pretty good guard play and we have to make sure when we break their press that we have to make them pay. We have to see what’s coming, be available, counter that press, shoot our shots or get to the basket.

“Erick Reader is a very good player. He’s an inside and outside threat. We have to pay attention to him at all times. The pregame message is going to be the same. We will talk about the opportunity we have in front of us. We will talk about staying poised and keeping our composure to go try to win this.”

This is the Knights’ first appearance in the championship game since 2018 when they won the state championship.