In a series of recent Boys Basketball battles between Cherry and Nevis, Friday’s Class A state tournament semifinal game at Williams Arena on the University of Minnesota campus might have been the best.

No. 1 seed Cherry had the championship experience and five-game series winning streak. No. 4 Nevis had the size advantage and was determined to use it to reach its first title game in its fifth consecutive state tournament.

Defending champion Cherry led for nearly 33 minutes of the 36-minute game, but the outcome was still in doubt when AJ Bessler scored two of his game-high 39 points on a layup with 1:28 remaining that got Nevis within 72-70. Cherry’s Noah Asuma drained a 3-pointer after a timeout on the next possession and Cherry closed out a Class A semifinal win over Nevis for the second year in a row.

Cherry (31-1), which won a regular-season meeting 74-60 on Jan. 4, made its first five 3-point attempts and burst to a 34-23 lead Friday. Nevis (28-4) hit back with a 12-0 run to take the lead and went to the break ahead 39-38 thanks to Bessler’s layup just before the buzzer that gave him 24 first-half points on 11-for-16 shooting.

Bessler’s teammate down low, Alex Lester was also productive with 22 points in the game.

Cherry shot 56.9 percent and spread the ball around to counter the post duo with a 17-0 advantage in fast-break points. The play-making Carson Brown tallied a team-high 22 points, eight rebounds and seven assists. Noah Sundquist had 17 points and 13 boards and Isaiah Asuma added 16 points.

Up next: Cherry will try to repeat as Class A champion when it plays the winner of Dawson-Boyd and Red Lake County at 11 a.m. Saturday. Nevis plays in the third-place game at Gangelhoff Center on the Concordia University campus in St. Paul at 10 a.m. Saturday.