Photos by Jake McNeill Above: Dawson-Boyd’s Drew Hjelmeland cuts down a piece of the net after the Blackjacks’ 3A title win over Hills-Beaver Creek on Thursday in Marshall. The Blackjacks will take on Heritage Christian Academy in the Class A quarterfinals at the Target Center in Minneapolis today at 3 p.m.

MINNEAPOLIS — The Dawson-Boyd boys basketball team makes its first state tournament appearance of the 21st century today as the No. 2 seed in the Class A tournament. The Blackjacks earned the No. 2 seed in the tournament and will take on No. 7 Heritage Christian Academy in the Target Center.

“[I told the players that] the venue is changing, but everything else about it is not,” Dawson-Boyd head coach Cory Larson said. “It’s very similar to when you go from playing games in your high school gyms to having to move to SMSU [Southwest Minnesota State University]… The crowd just makes it feel different. Certainly, the space of the Target Center makes them feel different that way.

“It’s a basketball game that’s still 36 minutes long. Dimensions of the court, the hoops, all that stuff to go Hoosiers on you a little bit, you’ve just got to remember it’s just a basketball game. Year, you’re now at the pinnacle of high school basketball in Minnesota, so be able to control your emotions, go and showcase your talents, play hard, play together and let’s go see what happens.”

Entering the tournament, the Blackjacks are 27-3 on the season and are riding a 17-game win streak since they lost to third-ranked Dell Rapids St. Mary (S.D.) on Jan. 18.

Dawson-Boyd’s only other losses this season came against No. 1 Cherry 70-64 and Class AA No. 1 Albany 74-53. They’ve also picked up ranked wins over No. 4 Nevis, No. 9 Hills-Beaver Creek and Class AA No. 9 Montevideo.

To reach state, the Blackjacks overcame a 13-point first-half deficit to defeat Hills-Beaver Creek 59-52 behind Brayson Boike’s 19 points, Drew Hjelmeland’s 17 and Gunner Liebl’s 10 points and seven assists.

Prior to today’s tip-off, Dawson-Boyd had one other state appearance in 1991. Dawson High School also appeared in the 1949 state tournament before the tournament was separated by class size.

“I’m definitely happy for these guys because they’ve worked so hard,” Larson said. “The amount of time that they’ve put into the game, and then to get it to pay off so that they’re now getting to play in a state tournament, it’s certainly very rewarding for them as players and for me as a coach.”

Heritage Christian earned its way to the state tournament with a 24-5 record. The Eagles started the season with a 6-3 record but closed the year on an eight-game win streak. Still, they are 0-2 against top-10 opponents after losing 77-62 to No. 4 Nevis on Dec. 28 and Iowa Class AA No. 1 Western Christian on Dec. 13.

The Eagles were given the No. 2 seed in their section tournament but no opponents played them tight; Heritage Christian defeated No. 10 West Lutheran 76-46 in the quarterfinals, No. 3 Avail Academy 76-52 in the semifinals and top-seeded Liberty Classical Academy 93-72 in the section championship.

Heritage Christian also earned a berth in last year’s state tournament and went home to Maple Grove with a fifth-place trophy after defeating Russell-Tyler-Ruthton by a point, 63-62, in the consolation championship. Abu Tarawallie was fouled with two seconds remaining in regulation and made one of the shots to give the Eagles the narrow victory.

“I think any team that you face is going to present challenges. So yeah, certainly the success they had last year making it to the state tournament as you move into the state tournament for the second year in a row,” Larson said.

The Eagles return each of their top 7 players in minutes from last year’s state tournament run. Owen Haag and Joshua Sokeye have led the team with 18 and 16 points per game, respectively, while Tarawallie has added another 14.7 Aaron Palmer and Jonah Moulton also average double figures while Sokeye has grabbed 11.6 rebounds per game and dished out 4.2 assists per game.

As a group, the Eagles have shot 46% from the field and 31% from 3-point range this year. As such, Larson said the Blackjacks will be putting a premium on defensive effort, specifically in their ability to get in transition and rebound well.

Today’s quarterfinal game can be streamed on NSPN.TV. Tickets must be purchased online and ara available on mshsl.org/tickets, with admission costing $22 for adults and $14 for students.