19-20 First Look: Tea Area
Tea Area earned two state titles in the past three seasons completing a run for one of the better senior classes in South Dakota high school basketball history. So what’s next? Returning Starters. Justin Hohn is at UC-Irvine. Noah Freidel…
Access all of Prep Hoops
Continue reading this article and more.
Continue ReadingTea Area earned two state titles in the past three seasons completing a run for one of the better senior classes in South Dakota high school basketball history. So what’s next?
Returning Starters. Justin Hohn is at UC-Irvine. Noah Freidel is at South Dakota State. Kade Stearns will be at Mount Marty this fall, Mason Ritter at Dakota State, and Kaleb Joffer I would assume will be playing college football at a good school as he was an all-state football player (Tea Area won the state title in football as well). In addition to losing the five starters Tea Area also lost it’s three key reserves (Colby Fechner, Zach Wilber, and Jack Unruh) to graduation.
Reserves Playing a Bigger Role. Now juniors Connor Mulder (5-foot-8 guard), Austin Lake (a six foot wing), Garrett Kolbeck (5-foot-10 guard), and Braden Beach (six foot guard) played a bit of varsity time while also starting for the junior varsity last year. Kolbeck is a three point weapon and often was the scorer that wanted the ball the most for the JV. Mulder was often the most active player as a rebounder and defender, plus he’s a very intelligent passer. Joe Walnofer was the lone junior starter on the JV and the lone forward. Walnofer is a 6-foot-2 senior.
More Potentials from the JV. Mulder, Lake, Kolbeck, and Beach will spend the next two years playing a lot of backcourt minutes for the Titans. But is there any size on the way up? Max Peterson and Sam Kettleman are 6-foot-2 seniors that played off the bench on the JV as frontcourt contributors, but outside of that the frosh, sophs, and juniors in the program were all 6-foot-2 and under. Each may have to give the team minutes. Two more guards to know will be now sophomores Jeff Worth and Cael Lundin (both played off the JV bench as frosh).