March Madness is upon us in South Dakota, and it’s especially true at the high school as the state basketball tournaments grow near. In Huron, the Tigers boys’ basketball team has had an exceptionally good year. They’re overall record is 16-4, which is good enough for the No. 2 overall seed as teams prepare for the SoDak 16 this coming Saturday.
Huron will play Douglas with the winner punching a ticket to the state tournament in Sioux Falls on March 19-21.
The Tigers have eight seniors on their roster this season, which second year head coach Jon Schouten credits as a big reason for his squads success. Two of the seniors on the team, Landon and Hayden Hegg, are twin brothers.
“They’re two kids who are a coach’s dream. Nothing on their stat line is going to jump out at you, but the things they bring are those immeasurables that you hear a lot about,” explained Coach Schouten. “They’re just tough kids, tough nosed, and they’ll do anything we ask them to do.”
For both brothers, they’ve enjoyed the opportunity to play with one another this season.
At the 2018 State High School Football Championships, Huron played Pierre for the 11AA title. During that game, Landon tore his labrum, which in turn, made him miss his junior year on the basketball court. Now that he’s healthy, both Landon and Hayden are cherishing every moment playing together.
“It’s been really fun, but from my aspect, Landon tore his labrum at state football, and then seeing him sit out [basketball] last year was tough,” said Hayden Hegg. “Finally getting to play with him my senior year is something I’ve really liked. It has been a fun journey.”
“Getting to be able to play with [Hayden] again and all my buddies my senior year has just been a blast. It’s been quite a fun journey. We’ve had a great season, so I’m really happy about that,” said Landon Hegg.
As the saying goes, 'brothers will be brothers,' and off the court, the duo pushes each other in everything they do.
“Anything we do at home is competitive. Basketball in the driveway and football at home. We have a 13-year old little brother too, and anything with him is always competitive. We always go at each other,” joked Landon. “School wise we always push each other to do our best, get good grades, and such.”
Next year, both will attend South Dakota State University. Hayden plans to study physical therapy, while Landon will major in Ag Systems Technology. No, they won't be rooming together.
“These two kids are great kids, they’re great examples to our younger guys on how hard you have to play – especially when you’re undersized the way they are,” said Coach Schouten. “As the year has gone on, there’s been more confidence developed in them.”
The Huron Tigers will host Douglas on Saturday night at the Huron Arena with a trip to the state tournament on the line. These two teams haven’t faced each other since 2012.