Photo by Jake McNeill Russell-Tyler-Ruthton’s Chase Christianson drives into the paint between a pair of Central Minnesota Christian defenders during the second half of the Section 3A boys basketball championship at Southwest Minnesota State University’s R/A Facility in Marshall on March 14. The Knights will take on top-seeded Cherry in the Class A state quarterfinals today at the Target Center in Minneapolis.

MINNEAPOLIS — The Russell-Tyler-Ruthton boys basketball team rallied late in the season to punch its ticket into the Class A state tournament. While the Knights have a largely different roster from last year’s championship run, they’ll look to find the same magic when they take on top-seeded Cherry in the state quarterfinals in the Target Center.

On paper, this year’s quarterfinals matchup is a rematch of last year’s Class A semifinals, in which RTR defeated the Tigers 61-57. In reality, it’s a whole new ballgame. While the Knights were ranked No. 1 in Class A for the bulk of last year, Cherry has occupied pole position this year. While the Knights graduated five of the seven players to play in last year’s game, the Tigers return all seven of their players.

Leading the group for Cherry are the Asuma brothers. Isaac Asuma, a 6-foot-3 guard and University of Minnesota commit, scored 21 points in last year’s matchup while Noah, a 6-1 sophomore, put up 13 points and 10 rebounds in the loss. Isaiah Asuma has also stepped up into a larger role after scoring 3 points in last year’s matchup as an eighth grader.

Aiden Wichmann led the Knights in points, rebounds and assists last time around. While he’s since graduated, Drew Werkman has continued to carry the mantle. He’s averaged 19 points per game on 54.8% from the field. He’s also added 11.1 rebounds per game and developed more of a shooting touch, knocking down 16 3-pointers in 30 games this year after finishing last year’s state championship run with three total 3-pointers.

Blake Christianson is the only other Knight to log minutes in last year’s state tournament that is returning to this year’s. While Christianson provided some solid depth minutes off the bench, he’s stepped up into the role of the team’s primary distributor this year. He’s averaged a team-high 3.8 assists per game this year, dishing out five dimes along with 14 points in last week’s 3A championship win over Central Minnesota Christian.

Last week’s 64-47 win over CMC extended the Knights’ winning streak to 12 games, putting them at 23-7 on the season. They’ve won those 12 games by an average of 19.5 points with each of the last nine wins coming by double digits.

As much of a tear as the Knights are on, the Tigers have been even hotter. They’ve won 21 consecutive games since they lost back-to-back matchups against Class 4A opponents Forest Lake and No. 2 Park Center, improving their record to 28-2 on the season. No opponents have come within 20 points of Cherry during their last 15 games. In their last game — the Section 7A championship against second-seeded Mountain Iron-Buhl (24-6) — the Tigers ran away with a 99-55 win.

All three Asumas finished with between 16 and 20 points in the section championship win while Noah Sundquist and Landan Ruotsalainan finished with 17 and 15 points respectively. Noah Asuma also got 18 of his 20 points on his six 3-pointers.

Tipoff for today’s game is scheduled for 11 a.m.