The most prestigious award in high school basketball has cut their list down to their finalist, and two Iron Rangers have made the list.

Cherry’s Isaac Asuma has been named a Mr. Basketball Minnesota finalist, while Mountain Iron-Buhl’s Jordan Zubich has been nominated for Ms. Basketball Minnesota.

Asuma has been lights out this season, as the future Minnesota Golden Gopher averaged over 20.8 points per game, over 7.6 rebounds per game, and over 5.7 assists. In addition to Asuma’s electric play, the Cherry standout has helped lead his team to the Class A tournament, after beating Mountain Iron-Buhl last Friday to win the Section 7A tournament.

“We’re all really close. Everyone just loves each other. This group is really good. It’s really a special group that we got, just the camaraderie that we have,” said Asuma. “I think that just defensively we’ve really picked it up. The beginning of the season we were kinda lacking, we were playing good defense just not the way that we want to. So it’s a big step up from the beginning of the season to now.”

The Cherry Tigers are the one seed in the Class A tournament, and will tip off on Thursday at 11 a.m. from the Target Center.

MIB’s Jordan Zubich also enjoyed an incredible season, as the University of North Carolina commit put up averages of 27.6 points per game, 6.4 assists per game, and 4.3 rebounds.

The Ranger’s senior helped lead MIB to a Section 7A championship, and ultimately to the Class A championship, where they fell to Goodhue.

Despite the result of the season, Zubich finished her year as one of the states top talents.

Both players are school record holders in their respective programs in points in a career.

If Asuma were to claim the award, he’d become the first Northlander since Rick Rickert of Duluth East in 2001, while Zubich would be the first Northlander girl to win since Denise Holm did it for Duluth East back in 1985.