Class B No. 4 Wessington Springs boys basketball reaching impressive heights this season

Feb. 13—WESSINGTON SPRINGS, S.D. — After head basketball coach Kenny Huether stepped out of the locker room following Wessington Springs' Feb. 6 victory over neighboring rival Wolsey-Wessington, he was approached by a rambunctious bunch of high school students.

Dressed up as ESPN anchors, donning sports blazers with a karaoke mic in stow, the group began eagerly asking Huether the burning questions following the big win.

There's plenty for Huether to talk about, as Wessington Springs boys basketball is having one of its best seasons in recent history, holding a 16-1 record and No. 4 ranking in Class B late in the regular season.

And everyone involved in the journey seems to be enjoying themselves.

"It's a fun group to work with," Huether told the Mitchell Republic, moments before being swarmed by the students. "They work hard, they have such desire. And our dreams are high and we hope that we can keep going."

Since falling to Howard 38-33 in a game on Dec. 16, Wessington Springs has dominated its competition this season.

The Spartans hold eight wins over teams with winning records — all but two by double digits — and five wins over teams with 11 or more wins. Currently ranked fourth in the Class B seed-point standings, the Spartans are favorites to reach the SoDak16 out of Region 5B for the second-straight year.

And wins like last week's 72-52 drubbing of 13-4 Wolsey-Wessington, a team currently 13th in the Class B seed-point formula, make it seem like the Spartans' ceiling is as high as ever in Huether's second season in as coach.

"To come out and beat (W-W) by 20 points shows how much we've come in the past two years," said junior Ryder Michalek, who joined Huether from Kimball. "We started off with scratch, two new kids on the team, a new coach, and we're making progress. And I really liked that progress this year."

The Spartans play at an electric pace, hungry to score in transition and get high-percentage looks. One-through-five, each player has the ability to take their opponent off the dribble, and the team's first instinct is to attack the basket. If it's not there, the group is comfortable settling into its offense.

Against Wolsey-Wessington, Wessington Springs finished 51 percent on shots from 2-point range, and 50 percent from 3-point range.

"We share the ball well, we're a very athletic team, we can get out and score in transition, we can play a half court set, work the clock and score inside the last 10 seconds. We can score in a variety of ways. And that's what makes us dangerous," Huether said.

Michalek, standing at 6-foot-3, rebounds like a forward but dribbles like a guard. Averaging 14.8 points in the past five games, he combines his length and athleticism to consistently get to the hoop against the other team's best player.

Parker Graff, the 6-foot sophomore guard, has a quick first step, a good stroke, and is an effective passer. He is averaging 16.6 points in the past five games.

The other starters are right in the mix of things as well. In the last five games, the team's 6-foot-4 sophomore center, Colby Flowers, is averaging 11 points; 6-foot-3 senior Brock Krueger has scored 11.2 points per game and 5-foot-10 senior guard Blake Larson has had 9.8 points per game.

With that same length and effort also being utilized on the defensive end, the Spartans are scoring 64 points per game while giving up just 36.8 points per game defensively.

"One guy can have an off night and it won't impact us that much," Michalek said. "Others will pick it up and nobody's afraid to shoot, nobody's afraid to score. And it's just super hard to stop a team when they don't let off like that."

For a program that was devoid of winning basketball for over a decade, the resurgence of the Spartans has been a welcoming development.

From the 2007-08 season to the 2018-19 season (12 seasons) the Spartans did not earn a winning record, finishing with a combined .344 winning percentage over that span.

However, the program has finished above .500 the past four seasons, including a .672 winning percentage in three seasons with former Dakota Wesleyan standout Joey Mitchell as coach. And now, in Huether's second year, the team is starting to be considered a legitimate threat at the state level.

"We've been underdogs for a while and people are finally starting to notice us," Michalek said. "It feels good that people are taking some disrespect off of our name and seeing what we can do and what we can accomplish."

However, with the Region 5B tournament and the state tournament ahead, Wessington Springs understands the most critical games have yet to be played.

"We came into the season with high hopes and we've got plenty of things left to accomplish," Huether said. "So in no way are we going to get big-headed on this. We're going to stay humble. We're going to stay hungry. We're going to strive to grab every win that we can get."