Henry Abraham, a 2020 unsigned guard from Cambridge-Isanti, is on a run to start 2019-20 Minnesota High School Basketball season. The 5’10 guard has scored 278 points (34.8 per game) while hitting 53 3’s in 8 games. Cambridge is 7-1, already defeating 4A perennial-power Wayzata and handing Duluth East both of its early season L’s. The only blemish for Cambridge so far, is their odd game vs St. Cloud Apollo, where they commanded a 55-28 first half lead, but ended up being the team on the losing end of the blow out when it was all over, 99-82.

In the Apollo loss, Abraham put up 47 points. Then, to prove that wasn’t an anomaly, he put 50 points up on Chanhassen the next game, followed by a 41 point game vs Denfeld. He’s scored at least 29 in every game but one, and has converted at least 4 3’s in every contest. He also dropped 50 points in an outburst vs Chanhassen where he hit 13 3’s….

The 2020 Senior has always been a scorer and is only adding to his own Cambridge-Isanti school record, for points scored. As a Junior he averaged 22.8 ppg and as a Sophomore 20.9, both team-highs.

As Abraham is looking forward to college, and where his future will take him, he’s still working to lead his high school team for one last ride. With fellow Seniors, Hunter Melander and Micah Ladd in step with him, Cambridge-Isanti is attempting to get back to State. So far, it looks like that possibility is well-within grasp.

I was able to catch up with him to chat about his senior season and what his college prospects are looking like:

Q: You’ve been a tear to start the year, 8 games 278 points, 53 made 3s, and you guys are 7-1. Is there this extra motivation to play every game like your showing everybody what you’re made of? 

A: Yes, for our team everyone had doubted us for as long as anyone can remember and we know we’re a top team in state so as a team we’re showing we can play with anyone. For myself, I’m showing that height doesn’t matter which it doesn’t because stats and records don’t lie. I’m not the tallest but I’m outplaying people bigger than me. Same with our team, we have one guy 6’4 and everyone else is about 6’1 or less. So as a short answer yes

 Q: The only blemish is the Apollo game. A game I was at. If I wasn’t I wouldn’t have believed it. What did you and the team learn from it?

 A: We learned to just finish games and always be in attack mode. No let up!

 Q: How’s college recruiting coming along? 

 A: It’s okay, Bemidji State offered and others have been in contact. Some D2a and some D1s.

 Q: The others that have been in contact, have they said they want to see anything from you specifically to make an official offer?

 A: No they haven’t. 

 Q: Is there anything you’re looking for in a school non-basketball related? Any particular fields of study?

 A: Still searching and undecided.

 Q: Lastly, what do you guys need to do to continue winning games and get back to State?

 A: Work hard and trust each other as well as do our own jobs. If we do that we will go back to State.

Ryan Schmidt | Minnesota Sports Fan

Since January 2004, Breakdown Sports has hosted an event called the Tip-Off Classic, and this year was no different. Over the course of multi-part series we’ll cover some of the games and players from this year’s event.

The first game I want to cover in this series about the Tip-Off Classic, is St. Cloud Apollo vs Cambridge-Isanti. Although there weren’t any big Division one recruits from this game (yet), the match-up offered the most exciting game of the event.

Personally I was ready for the match-up between a pair of 2020 guards, Henry Abraham and Michael Gravelle. Two, under six-foot, highly competitive guards who didn’t disappointed.

Apollo was the eventual winner, defeating Cambridge-Isanti 99-82. In the first half, however, Cambridge built a 55-28 lead, largely due to Henry Abraham. Abraham provided 32 points in the first half and finished the game with 49 total. The speedy 5’10 guard has scored more points and made more 3-pointers than any Cambridge player in the school’s history.

After halftime however, the game took a widely unexpected turn, given how poorly Apollo played in the first half. The Eagles put together a 44-3 run, led by the other 2020 guard featured in the above video and this blog, Michael Gravelle. Gravelle played poorly in the first half scoring just 5 points, while accruing a number of turnovers. In the 2nd half though, Gravelle scored 26 points and netted a large number of his 11 assists and 5 steals. His second half was so good, it landed him the Breakdown Player of the Game.

Momentum turns aren’t entirely shocking, as high school sports games tend to have large runs from half to half, but the disparity in points scored from one half to the other is impressive. A 44-3 run is almost unheard of with competent competitors like the ones in this game, but being a first-hand witness to such a run, over the course of about seven minutes, was spectacular. 

Gotta love high school basketball.

Ryan Schmidt | Minnesota Sports Fan