Photo courtesy of West Central Tribune/Michael Lyne. Dawson-Boyd senior guard Brayson Boike celebrates after Drew Hjelmeland earned an and-1 in the second half of a Class A state semifinal game against Red Lake County on Friday, March 21, 2025, at Williams Arena in Minneapolis.

MINNEAPOLIS — Continuing its first state run since 1991, the No. 2 Dawson-Boyd boys basketball team will be playing for the Class A title for the first time in program history after defeating third-seed Red Lake County 80-66 in the semifinals Friday afternoon at the University of Minnesota’s Williams Arena.

“It’s very awesome for our kids getting opportunity to play in a state championship game,” Dawson-Boyd head coach Cory Larson said. “It’s like you’re going to look at preparing like it was any other game, just with a little bit more riding on it.”

A strong first half from Drew Hjelmeland and big second-half burst from Brayson Boike led the Blackjacks in breaking away from just a 3-point halftime edge, 38-35, in a game that saw 14 lead changes. Dawson-Boyd also played just a six-man rotation, in which every player got on the scoreboard, with four finishing in double-figures.

The Blackjacks took matters into their own hands a few minutes into the second half, and ran the rest of the way sparked by a 9-0 run. Boike had 20 second-half points, finishing with a team-high 28, and had 9 of Dawson-Boyd’s first 13 points out of the break.

“I think we actually had a kind of a slow start to the second half … Then we felt like we maybe got into a little bit of rhythm on the offensive end,” Larson said. “I know it started on defense, and we actually had a chance to knock a couple balls out of bounds when we came down to the other end.”

With Dawson-Boyd holding a 51-49 advantage, Boike got the run started with an elbow shot after taking a few dribbles off the wing. Jaxton Hastad followed that up with an and-1 driving to the basket, along with the free throw.

Boike was then found by Gunner Liebl under the basket coming off a backdoor cut, while Liebl hit the give-and-go layup from Hjelmeland on the next possession to put the Blackjacks up 60-49.

Red Lakes’ Will Gieseke halted the run with a 3-pointer, and the Rebels continued to chip away to cut into a 63-57 deficit with 5:11 to go, after Connor Duden hit another 3.

Yet, back-to-back 3-pointers from Boike and Liebl moments later put Dawson-Boyd back up by double digits, 69-58.

Gieseke hit his third 3 of the night to bring the Blackjacks’ lead back down to 69-61, but 7 unanswered points for Dawson-Boyd gave it a 15-point lead with 1:51 to go, 76-61, ultimately booking the ticket to the championship game.

The late 7-0 run came from a Hastad jump shot in the paint, a fast break layup from Boike with an assist from Hjelmeland, and a layup from Liebl after cutting down from the wing along with the and-1 free throw.

Boike’s 28 points came from 12 of 18 shooting. He also tallied six rebounds, all of which were defensive, and two assists.

Hjelmeland finished with 17 points on 7 of 13 shooting, along with a game-high 13 rebounds, eight assists and three blocks. He led with 14 first-half points and nine rebounds.

Hastad also had an efficient game with 15 points, eight rebounds and six assists, while Liebl finished with 10 points, four rebounds and six assists. Carson Stratmoen and Beau Johnson also tallied 5 points each.

“Certainly the TV timeouts, having two of those per half helps out quite a bit,” Larson said regarding his core six playing the entire game. “It helps you get an extra rest for some of those guys. The day before, I think everybody got probably 60 [seconds] to two and three minutes of rest. A couple guys even a little bit more that were in foul trouble.”

Boike, Liebl and Hjelmeland played all 36 minutes.

Dawson-Boyd dominated with 48 points in the paint, 35 rebounds and 16 fast break points to the Rebels’ 22 paint points, 25 rebounds and zero points off a fast break.

“I think that’s always where we want to outscore our opponents, in the paint. It probably wasn’t maybe one of our main focal points. We certainly wanted to get a fair amount of post touches, and get guys working downhill. It felt like we had an advantage that way,” Larson said. “They [RLC] play bigger than they are, they’re good athletes, but we were able to take advantage of post opportunities and basket cuts later in the game.”

The Blackjacks also had 25 assists on their 33 field goals, while RLC had 14 assists to their 27 makes.

“I thought that was huge. That [ball movement] was one of the things that we talked about at halftime … We played well at times in the first half, I just didn’t think we played well enough,” Larson said. “25 assists is a good amount, and this group of kids actually average about 22 assists a game. They do an excellent job of sharing the basketball.”

Overall, the Blackjacks shot 60% from the field, 64% from the perimeter on seven makes, and went 7 of 13 from the free-throw line. The Rebels shot 42% from the field, 31% from the 3 on nine makes and went 3 of 7 from the line.

Dawson-Boyd and RLC set the competitive tone from tip-off, going basket-for-basket nearly the entire first half. Neither team was able to escape more than an 8-point lead, obtained by the Blackjacks near the end of the half, 38-30, which the Rebels quickly brought back within a possession.

After the first half, Dawson-Boyd shot 47% to RLC’s 50%, but already established control inside with 26 paint points to the Rebels’ 16.

Hastad got the Blackjacks’ first 4 points of the game with a pair of layups after cutting inside, while Duden hit a 3 and step-back jump shot first the Rebels’ first two baskets.

Duden finished with a game-high 30 points behind six 3-pointers.

Hjelmeland had 8 of Dawson-Boyd’s first 14 points after hitting his second 3-pointer early in the game.

Duden ended the half with a deep 3-pointer at the buzzer to cut into the Blackjacks’ halftime lead.

Dawson-Boyd (29-3) will now play top-seeded Cherry (31-1) for the state championship at Williams Arena.

The Tigers, who were crowned state champions last year and are in their fourth straight tournament appearance, withheld a late rally from No. 4 Nevis in the semifinals on Friday for a 79-70 victory to advance to the title game.

Cherry and Dawson-Boyd met once in the regular season on Dec. 7 in Edina, and the Tigers came away with a 70-64 win. The game was the Blackjacks’ second of the season and Cherry’s fourth.

“I think both teams are different. I think we were both good teams back in December, and I think both teams have gotten better,” Larson said. “For us, I think we compete a lot harder on the defensive end than we did back in December. But, Cherry is a team that puts a lot of pressure on you. They got four kids that can score the ball in a multitude of ways. Very, very, difficult team to defend.”

The Blackjacks will look to finish off their season by dethroning the reigning state champions at 11 a.m. today.