Huron Tigers

Yes, it's late but it is never too late for PHD to talk about the Tigers and review the past high school season.   Before we hit July, we wanted to look at the high school hoops season for Huron. Coach Buddenhagen and the Tigers went on a run to the State Tournament. It has been 5 years since Huron went to State, it was a historic season for the Tigers.   See below for stats, player comments, and a Q&A session from coach Buddenhagen.   <figure class="wp-block-image size-large is-resized"><a href="https://prephoops.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/06/hurontigers.jpg"><img src="https://prephoops.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/06/hurontigers.jpg?w=1024" alt="" class="wp-image-2474993" style="width:315px;height:auto" /></a></figure>   <figure class="wp-block-image size-large is-resized"><a href="https://prephoops.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/03/SeaonReview-.jpg"><img src="https://prephoops.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/03/SeaonReview-.jpg?w=865" alt="" class="wp-image-1842251" style="width:318px;height:auto" /></a></figure>   Team: Huron   Mascot: Tigers   Head Coach: Tim Buddenhagen   Class: AA   Conference: Eastern South Dakota Conference (ESD)   Record: 14-10 (State Tournament Qualifier)   Stat Leders   Carsen Evans - 4 ppg, 1.9 rpg, .5 apg, 42.5 FG%   Holden Hegg - .9 ppg, 1.5 rpg, .6 apg, 37.5 FG%   Kolton Ogle - 1.7 ppg, 2 rpg, .3 apg, 19 FG%   CJ Gainey - 9.3 ppg, 3.2 rpg, 1.8 apg, 41.6 FG%   [player_tooltip player_id='1467166' first='Blake' last='Ellwein'] - 18 ppg, 6.6 rpg, 2 apg, 41.1 FG%   [player_tooltip player_id='2128932' first='Anderson' last='Porisch'] - 10.7 ppg, 6.7 rpg, 1.5 apg, 38.7 FG%   Gavin Moeding - 4.8 ppg, 2.7 rpg, 2 apg, 43.4 FG%   Player Comments From Coach Buddenhagen   Colton McNeil (2025) |5'11 G|   "Gave us a hard-nosed on-ball defender. He really improved his 3-point shooting which did not allow defenders to sag off and help out to stop Ellwein and Porisch."   [player_tooltip player_id='2351487' first='Trace' last='Wenz'] (2025) |6'1 G|   "Gave us an instant offensive guy off the bench and a good athlete coming off the bench to plug into our press."   Gavin Moeding (2024) |6'0 G|   "He was our floor general. He controlled the pace of the game for us. He got us a lot of extra possessions because of his hustle on the offensive glass. He was an outstanding defender and usually drew the other team's best offensive player."   CJ Gainey (2024) |6'1 G|   "Tremendous off-ball defender. He had 73 deflections and 58 steals this year. He stole us a lot of extra possessions. CJ also had the knack to hit big shots for us. He had a tremendous senior season."   Holden Hegg (2024) |6'1 F|   "He was our energy guy and our toughness off the bench. He was an undersized inside guy with a big heart. He had some big rebounds in our Dak 16 game and our State Tournament games. He saved his best games for our end of the season run."   Carsen Evans (2024) |6'1 G|   "He was an undersized inside defender that gave us a lot of grit on the defensive end to give Ellwein and Porisch a break from guarding inside all of the time. He was able to hit some timely 3's throughout the season. None bigger than the  4th quarter 3-pointer against O'Gorman when we were struggling to score that put us up by 4 points."   Kolton Ogle 2024) |6'3 G|   "He was a long athletic defender who helped us guard taller wing players. Kolton was disruptive on defense because of his long arms and he jumps well. He helped us big time on the boards. He was able to knock down the 3 on offense but more importantly was able to get to the rim off the bounce."   [player_tooltip player_id='1467166' first='Blake' last='Ellwein'] (2026) |6'8 F|   "All-ESD, All AA Tournament, First Team AA All-State, led us in scoring, rebounds, and blocks. He will keep improving his skill set and he has the potential to be a special player for us."   [player_tooltip player_id='2128932' first='Anderson' last='Porisch'] (2027) |6'3 G|   "He was our second leading scorer and rebounder. He had a fantastic freshmen year. He will keep improving his skill set and he will continue to improve his ball handling skills so he or Blake can get us into some set plays. This will help us be more versatile. He can be a special player for Huron."   "We have Bubba Peterson, Kolby Hofer, and Logan Leyendecker all Juniors that will play roles on our team next season along with Mason Jurgens a sophomore. We have a chance to make another State Tournament run if our guys improve in the off season."   Q&A with Tim Buddenhagen   PHD: How would you sum up the season for your squad?   "Our season went well. We finished the regular season at 12-8 which was good enough for a home game against O'Gorman in the SoDak 16.  We played well against a good team and we earned our way to the State Tournament in front of a  great Huron crowd, winning that game was a big step for our program and more people became interested in our program."   PHD: Do you have any fun memories to share with us?   "Watching our guys cut down the nets after the O'Gorman game from the radio platform high above the Huron Arena was a great memory.  Our fans were on the floor surrounding our guys. This was the first State Tournament trip for us in 5 years. Watching the guys interact with each other after our win against Roosevelt at the State Tournament. It was a 7th place win but it was much more to us. This team ended our basketball journey with a win and sent the seniors out the right way."   PHD: What did your team learn and improve on during the historic season?   "Huron has not had a winning basketball season in 4 years so our guys knew nothing about embracing the hard things during a season. This year we never lost more than 2 games in a row and we did not lose to a team that was .500 or with a losing record. They learned that to be successful everything a team wants is on the other side of hard. They became mentally tough and developed grit."   "We became a good defensive team throughout the season, We were able to adjust our defensive scheme game to game because our guys started to trust each other and our system."   Best of luck to the Tigers this offseason!   <figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><a href="https://prephoops.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/06/huronteampicture_31e6c6.jpg"><img src="https://prephoops.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/06/huronteampicture_31e6c6.jpg?w=1024" alt="" class="wp-image-2475355" /></a></figure>

Yes, it's late but it is never too late for PHD to talk about the Tigers and review the past high school season.