2024 Duluth News Tribune All-Area Boys Basketball Team (2024)

The story of the 2023-24 basketball season can’t be told without Isaac Asuma and the Cherry Tigers.

Asuma led Cherry to its first state championship ever last month at Williams Arena and brought the region its first boys basketball title since Kory Deadrick led Esko to the Class AA crown in 2014.

Asuma was a Mr. Basketball finalist and was named the News Tribune’s All-Area Player of the Year for the second consecutive year. He also led one of the most balanced starting fives in the state and is joined on the All-Area team by junior Noah Sundquist.

The Tigers will be a favorite to repeat as Class A champion next season with the other four starters all returning, though it will be a tougher mountain to climb with their star playing for the University of Minnesota next season.

Cherry wasn’t the only story in the area this season, with Hermantown’s Abe Soumis turning in a breathtaking season, setting Hawks records for career and single-season points. Soumis would have been an easy choice for player of the year if it weren’t for the best prep basketball player on the Iron Range since Hall of Famer Kevin McHale played at Hibbing.

Asuma and Soumis are joined on the first team by a pair of incredible scorers in Duluth Marshall’s Brooks Johnson and Duluth Denfeld’s Marnaries Ferguson. The first team is rounded out by Solon Springs' Isaiah Kastern. Kastern led the Eagles to the state semifinals and was named Superior Telegram All-Area Player of the Year.

Joining Sundquist on the second team are Duluth East sophom*ore Ty Nyberg and 2024 Pine Journal All-Area Player of the Year, Cloquet junior Jack Battaglia.

Isaac Asuma

Clint Austin / Duluth Media Group

Cherry
Senior guard

• A Minnesota Mr. Basketball finalist and two-time News Tribune All-Area Player of the Year, Asuma led the Tigers to the Class A state championship while leading the team in points (18.2), assists (8.2) and rebounds (7.8) per game.
• The guard’s 3,318 career points ranks 10th all-time in Minnesota history, one spot ahead of Chisholm legend Joel McDonald.
• After winning a state championship at Williams Arena in March and next season, the Barn will become his home court playing for the Minnesota Golden Gophers.

Abe Soumis

Jed Carlson / Duluth Media Group

Hermantown
Senior guard

• Soumis was a do-it-all player for the Hawks, averaging 31.9 points per game while shooting 55.8% from the field and led the team to its fourth section title game in five years.
• With more than 16 rebounds per game, Soumis averaged a double-double while also contributing 4.7 assists on a nightly basis.
• The Hawks’ all-time leading scorer and rebounder, “it was incredible watching (Soumis) do what he does out there,” coach Andy Fenske said.

Marnaries Ferguson

Jamey Malcomb / Duluth Media Group

Duluth Denfeld
Junior guard

• The Hunters’ junior sharpshooter averaged 23.7 points per game while shooting 54% from the field and 48% from the perimeter and was top 10 in Minnesota with 4.8 steals per game.
• Ferguson’s season was cut short by injury, but in his final appearance of the year, he scored a career-high 44 points against Hermantown, led Denfeld from 18 points down and hit the game-winning 3.

Brooks Johnson

Contributed / Kim Kosmatka

Duluth Marshall
Junior forward

• Johnson averaged 32.1 points per game while shooting better than 52% from the field and grabbed 16.6 rebounds per game.
• The junior wing player scored his 2,000th career point in January and will make a bid to become one of just a handful of players in Minnesota to score more than 3,000 points.

Isaiah Kastern

Jed Carlson / Duluth Media Group

Solon Springs
Senior forward

• Kastern’s 28.9 points per game was the eighth-most in Wisconsin across all divisions, and was named Superior Telegram All-Area Player of the Year for the second straight season.
• With one of the most dominant seasons in school history, Kastern led Solon Springs to its first sectional championship and appearance at the state tournament in Madison.

Noah Sundquist

Jamey Malcomb / Duluth Media Group

Cherry
Junior forward

• Sundquist averaged 18 points a game for one of the most well-balanced starting fives in Minnesota and was the “motor all year” in the Tigers’ run to the Class A championship, according to coach Jordan Christianson.
• The “Dennis Rodman of the Iron Range,” Christianson said, shot a team-best 67% from the field and grabbed better than six rebounds per game.

Tre Sanigar

Jed Carlson / Duluth Media Group

Superior
Senior guard

• Sanigar was the Spartans’ leading scorer with 19.5 points per game and was just the fourth player in program history to score 1,000 career points.
• Sanigar, “a great kid who works hard on his game,” according to coach Kory Deadrick, was a first team All-Lake Superior Conference selection who averaged five rebounds and four assists per game.

Jack Battaglia

Jed Carlson / Duluth Media Group

Cloquet
Junior guard

• An All-Lake Superior Conference first-team selection, Battaglia “can score at the rim, shoot the 3 well and get to the free throw line,” according to coach Steve Battaglia.
• At 6 feet, 1 inch tall, Battaglia consistently drew the Lumberjacks’ opponents’ best defender, often someone who was 4 or 5 inches taller, and was named the 2024 Pine Journal All-Area Player of the Year .

Ty Nyberg

Contributed

Duluth East
Sophom*ore guard

• Nyberg averaged 18.6 points per game, 4.1 assists, 5.1 rebounds and 2.9 steals for a young Greyhounds team that played one of the toughest schedules in the area.
• The Duluth East guard put up “large numbers going against the best defender as a sophom*ore,” according to coach Rhett McDonald.

Dalton Spindler

Contributed / Amy Arntson

Esko
Senior forward

• Spindler ‘did a lot of good things for our team,” coach Derek Anderson said, averaging 13 points, 5.1 rebounds and 3.5 assists per game.
• A versatile player that defends as well as he shoots, Spindler was instrumental in Esko’s third consecutive Section 7AA finals appearance.

This article was updated at 11:22 a.m. on April 13 to refer to Marnaries Ferguson as a junior. It was originally posted at 4:05 p.m. on April 12. The News Tribune regrets the error.

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