For Cherry’s football, basketball, and baseball teams, there’s been one family name dominating for the last handful of seasons. This year is the last time there will be two Asuma’s on the same team, but the cousins are ready to take their talents to new heights, and the next level.

While the oldest, Isaac, is in the cities hooping for the Gophers, his younger brother Noah and cousin Isaiah are here holding it down for the Tigers.

Noah is committed to play baseball for the University of Minnesota and says having an older brother like Isaac has been incredibly beneficial for his development across multiple sports.

“Growing up, every single day, we’d either be playing baseball, basketball, or playing football one-on-one, someone’s a quarterback. So, I mean, I think it’s just kind of been something like every single day we’ve been competing as each other, and I think that’s also a reason why we perform very well at all three sports as well,” said Noah.

For Isaiah, seeing his older cousins excel as leaders has inspired him to grow as a player before taking the reins next season.

“They’ve kind of paved the way for me. Just been easy to sit back, see what they do well, what’s not well. So, I feel like just sitting behind them, watching what they’re doing, that’s helped a lot, and takes a lot of pressure off everyone’s shoulders,” said Isaiah.

Noah already thinks highly of Isaiah and wants to make that transition as easy as possible.

“I think he’s already a great leader right now, but I think next year, definitely he’s going to have to step up even more. I just hope that we give him a clear path of what it looks like and what it takes to get there,” said Noah.

You’ll never find a family that isn’t trying to one up each other, it’s just how these things work.

“That’s always a thought in my head. Like, they’ve both doing great things. They’ve been doing great things and of course, that’s always in the back of my mind. I just want to be better than them,” said Isaiah.

Noah and Isaiah will lead the Tigers into their first basketball game of the season on Tuesday, December 2 when they take on Mountain Iron-Buhl at home.