Ryan Bozer:
March Madness is upon us, but for high school basketball, South Dakota's matchups have wrapped up. SDPB's sports and recreation reporter, Nate Wek, joins me this morning to recap the incredible games played over the last two weekends as we bring Your Morning in Play.
Nate, I've followed your guys' reporting over the past two weeks and I'm seeing bracket upsets, overtime matches, and a lot of champions being crowned for the first time in years. Where do you want to start this morning, man? There's a lot to cover.
Nate Wek:
Yeah. You said it perfectly. There's a lot to unravel. You talk about some of the memorable years for state basketball and some of the streaks and some of that kind of stuff, but this year had to be right up there. You look at this past weekend with the boys state basketball championships, all three championship games, I guess you could put in that instant classic category. Two of the games going into overtime and then one coming down to a last-second shot. I mean, what else could you ask for when it comes to a championship game? You want the best of the best. You want a good game. And I tell you what, all the kids delivered.
Ryan Bozer:
Let's start with AA, Mitchell versus Brandon.
Nate Wek:
Yeah. So this was an interesting one. I think Mitchell was looked at as a really good team. They were runner-up a year ago when they got beat by Yankton, so they kind of came into this season with some unfinished business. And then going into that championship game, their opponent was Brandon Valley who... Brandon Valley, very emotional week for them. Brent Deckert, longtime coach at Brandon Valley, passed away on Wednesday, the day before the tournament started. So they were playing for something a lot bigger than the scoreboard, so to speak.
So you had all these different storylines. For Mitchell, of course it would go down to the last shot. It was great. This was Mitchell's first state boys basketball title since 2005, I believe that's 19 years. So you'd have to go back to the Gary Munsen era. So, Mitchell, a very rich history with basketball, but as of the last couple of decades, haven't been able to get back to the promised land for it. And so to see them come into this season with a chip on their shoulder and be able to get it done this year is just really big for the Mitchell Kernels' program and for the community of Mitchell.
Ryan Bozer:
Again, one of those games where you hope both teams walk out heads held high of, "We gave it our all. It was all left on the court," right?
Nate Wek:
Absolutely.
Ryan Bozer:
And then going to Class A, we had number two Hamlin versus number one Sioux Falls Christian. That game, if I'm remembering right, did go into overtime.
Nate Wek:
Yep, it did. It was one of the two championship games that went into overtime. And Hamlin got beat by Sioux Falls Christian a couple of times during the regular season. And I think most people thought coming into the tournament, it should turn out to be Hamlin versus Sioux Falls Christian probably, if we're going with just what happened during the season. But of course when you get to the state tournament, who knows what's going to happen, right?
Hamlin coming into that championship game, they had a phenomenal first half. Sioux Falls Christian looked completely shell-shocked. And then to come out in the second half, Sioux Falls Christian goes on a run. They start making baskets. You can feel the momentum changing. And then for that one to go into overtime, you could just feel both sets of fans were just sitting on the edge of their seat and standing for most of it just because they didn't know what was going to happen.
And for Hamlin, first state boys championship since 1983. That's 41 years. So a long time coming for Hamlin, and Hamlin County, really, for that matter. So it was a big win. Sioux Falls Christian was even being talked about as potentially, are they better than Mitchell on the AA side? Are they potentially the best team in the state? So for Hamlin to do what they did, and I know it was an exciting game, I know that Sioux Falls Christian is disappointed, but there was a lot of players that left it all out on the court, and a couple baskets go a different way and we're talking about a different result.
Ryan Bozer:
And then Class B. This one's my personal favorite just because I love seeing a lower seed team exceed expectations. Number five Howard took on number two De Smet in overtime, and Howard got the win, right?
Nate Wek:
They did. And I think once Howard beat top-seeded White River in the semis, you kind of thought, could this be the year De Smet goes down? Because I think De Smet went on that back-to-back run. They had Kalen Garry. There was a lot of question marks last year with De Smet. Could they do it again? And yes, they did. You know, with the Wilkinson kid, and obviously he was tremendous for De Smet as a senior.
So then there was questions again this year. De Smet's really good again, but could they win four in a row? And as soon as Howard beat White River in the semis, you could feel that, okay, I think this has the makings to be a shootout. It has the makings to be something really fun. And I don't know if anybody's seen the last end of that regulation, but there was a shot by Howard to go up with 2.1 seconds left, or 1.2 seconds left, or whatever it was. Then there was a half-court heave by De Smet and they put a bucket up right at the horn to force overtime. So I mean, the end of regulation and then all of overtime was absolutely fantastic for the Class B.
And for Howard to win their first boys state basketball championship in 60 years. The last time they won it was actually at the Sioux Falls Arena when there was only two classes.
That was when the B really was referred to as the Big B, which it still is referred to that today, but it was a different thing when there was just two classes. So there were some photos, black and white, of Howard playing in the Sioux Falls Arena in front of 7, 8,000 fans. And you look at the atmosphere that they had in Aberdeen on Saturday night, and man, it meant so much to that community. It's a bummer that De Smet couldn't get four in a row, because you always like to see kind of those dynasty type things like that, too.
You know, as a neutral person. But it's also fun to see new teams that haven't won it in a while win it. And we saw three very epic games that displayed that on Saturday night.
Ryan Bozer:
I'm just trying to picture how much has occurred since some of these teams last won a championship. Even 19 years ago. We got that range of 19 to 60 years back. There's been a lot that's occurred.
Nate Wek:
Right. Absolutely. And I even wrote it in the article I did with Howard, the last time Howard won a state boys basketball championship, Lyndon B. Johnson was president. So that just shows you how long ago that was.
Ryan Bozer:
Yeah. It's been a bit. I'm glad all those teams got to have their day, their time to shine. Basketball's wrapped up for the state. What sort of high school activities and stuff do we have coming up next, Nate?
Nate Wek:
Well, we've got the 2024 All-State Band Concert that's taking place from Pierre this week. That will be live-streamed at sdpb.org/band. You can go there to watch that grand concert on Saturday night. So yeah, we've got some fine art stuff. There is no break. There's a lot of kids that are starting track practice right now too. Those spring sports are getting active and those will be underway here before we know it.
Ryan Bozer:
Sweet. Well, I will be sure to tune into the band stuff. I'm an arts kid, so I'm very excited that we're getting to highlight the arts as well with all these activities. I'll let you go rest up after two really busy weekends of basketball, but it seems to have been some memorable games to get to be around for.
Nate Wek:
It's a lot of fun, Ryan, and it's a reminder of why I love this job.
Ryan Bozer:
Yeah, I think that's a perfect note to end on right there. So Nate Wek, we'll see you next week.
Nate Wek:
All right, thanks Ryan.
