Hamlin still celebrating its first state boys basketball championship in 41 years
In case you didn't realize it, Hamlin High School is very much back on the state's boys basketball map.
If they hadn't already proved that last year, the Chargers definitely did last weekend by capping a 23-3 season with the state Class A championship at Rapid City. The title was the first in 41 years for Hamlin.
"It'd definitely been awhile," Hamlin head coach Todd Neuendorf said. "It was a long dry spell and with anything, if you don't do it, you lose a little bit."
But really, it seems like it was only yesterday that the program made eight trips to the state Class B tournament from 1974 to 1983 and won bookend state titles.
Some of us — Yes, I have my hand raised — grew up in the 1970s thinking the state B boys basketball tourney was like annual invitational for teams like Armour and Hamlin. I remember watching Hamlin's Steve Brown score a record 50 points in the semifinals and 14 in the team's 36-33 1974 championship game win over Parker. I don't remember so much about the 1983 team coached by Wayne Carney that beat Armour 45-40 in the title game, That team featured Gary Carlson and Rich Leiseth and also longtime official Justin Ingalls, but I was in college and likely on a spring baseball trip south when the state basketball tournaments were held that spring.
Hamlin's success during that time came shortly after the school district was formed in 1972 with the consolation of Hayti, Bryant, Lake Norden and Hazel. Many of those schools had their own success in boys basketball.
The run of success slipped a bit for Hamlin when it moved up to Class A as part of the three class system that was adopted in 1986. The Chargers quaified for the state Class A tourney in 1990 and 1993 but took 30 years off before returning last winter with a squad that finished third and graduated only one regular (Brennan Keszler).
"It was pretty special last year when we went, but nothing like this weekend," Neuendorf, a 1990 Watertown High School graduate, said.
Neuendorf spent 11 years as an assistant at Aberdeen Central, 11 years as a head coach at Aberdeen Roncalli and four years at Mitchell before returning closer to home at Hamlin following the 2021 season.
"The people of Hamlin have really embraced us. We couldn't have asked for a better crowd out there and we also held our welcome home thing out there," Neuendorf said. "Now we have some older people who weren't able to go asking if we can hold some kind of a reception here because they want to see the kids with the trophy. When you have a good year, it feeds success and the program."
Todd Neuendorf is a few years younger than me but still said he knew all about Hamlin boys basketball well before he decided to take over the program's head coaching duties.
"If there's a ballgame in Watertown, we were there watching it because that's just waht we did. My parents took us to all the games and it always seemed like it was Hamlin vs. Castlewood," Neuendorf said. "You would go to the games and see all the people. It was a full house. I knew Hamlin was good and there was this mystique about Hamlin. I knew there was rich tradition and history of good baskeball there."
Good basketball has returned these past couple of years and it was evident throughout the 2023-24 season. The Chargers' losses came to Cordova (Tenn.) 64-57 in the Hoops City Classic and two to Sioux Falls Christian (54-52 and 61-53). Cordova went 29-4 in Tennessee Class 4A basketball this winter and Christian was No. 1-ranked and 25-0 heading into last week's state championship game.
The Neuendorfs: Two coaches, three players from same family part of resurgence for Hamlin hoops
At times, Hamlin looked unbeatable and played like it too. There was an 84-62 win over two-time defending state champion Dakota Valley that ended the Panthers' 62-game winning steak two wins shy of Armour's (1978-80) state record of 64. Add a 64-46 win over three-time state B champion De Smet, a 71-47 win over No. Class B Castlewood and an 80-48 win over Class A Sioux Valley. Each of those teams won at least two games in their respective state tourneys last weekend.
The Chargers opened state with a 46-45 win over Groton Area, a Northeast Conference rival they began the season beating 58-36. They followed with a 62-45 win over Rapid City Christian and then a 53-50 overtime win over Sioux Falls Christian.
Hamlin took control early in the finals, leading 27-15 at halftime and 34-19 in the third quarter. Christian rallied to force overtime, but Neuendorf admitted the start was huge for Hamlin's confidence.
"One of the goals that we had is we wanted to punch them in the mouth first. We wanted to be the team that to get out early," he said. "We knew it's be a game of runs and we knew at halftime that they weren't done yet."
Another impressive trait for the Chargers is that they survived three days primarily using six players and only one senior, 6-foot-2 guard Tyson Stevenson. The starting lineup included 5-11 junior Easton Neuendorf, the coach's son; 6-3 junior Evan Stormo, 6-6 junior Zac VanMeeteren and 6-2 sophomore Travis Wadsworth. Dawson Noem, a 6-4 junior, also was a key regular.
Stevenson banked home the game-tying 3-pointer with 20 seconds left in overtime and scored five points down the stretch in overtime., but all six were big. Not only in the state tourney, not only in the championship, but all season.
State A Boys Basketball: No. 2 Hamlin avenges two regular-season losses against Sioux Falls Christian
Here's Coach Neuendorf's assessment of the Super Six.
Stevenson — "Tyson is a winner. When push comes to shove, Tyson will do whatever it takes to win."
Stormo — Evan was a man during the state tournament. He can guard positions 1 to 5, get to the rim and shoot the 3."
Noem — Dawson was our glue! He was our most selfless player and accepted a different role for our team."
VanMeeteren — "Zac quietly accepts whatever challenge is set before him."
Neuendorf — "Easton changes the pace of the game on both ends of the floor."
Wadsworth — "Jackson plays with an edge on both ends of the floor."
Now if you don't believe that history repeats itself or that certain things are meant to be, try this on for size. Neuendorf led Aberdeen Roncalli to the 2015 state Class A title with get this, a 53-50 win over Dell Rapids. It was Roncalli's first state title in 40 years and came with the same final score as the Hamlin-Christian game.
Certainly, this title might carry a little more meaning for Coach Neuendorf, who was able to share it in a very special way with his son. We can't forget to add his wife Jaime and daughter Addison. who served as an assistant coach and starting guard on Hamlin's state championship girls basketball team from last year.
"I can't really explain how fortunate we have been as a family, to have my wife and daughter win a state tournament and for me to part of two more, one of them with our son," Neuendorf said. "I certainly feel blessed to have had so many good players to coach and not only those who played on state championship teams."
Saturday's championship game between Hamlin and Sioux Falls Christian included just one senior on the court (Stevenson) and certainly has many looking ahead to a potential rematch and possibily, another title for Hamlin.
Neuendorf, who will take head into his 30th season as a coach next winter with a 293-134 record in 18 seasons as a head coach, isn't among those looking that far ahead.
"It's easy for people to say we're going to be back next year, but you don't know what," Neuendorf said. "It's been a lot of pressure these past couple years to try to get there and win. Now that it's done, it should take some pressure off the kids. They can just focus now on playing basketball."
Follow Watertown Public Opinion sports reporter Roger Merriam on X (formerly known as Twitter) @PO_Sports or email: rmerriam@thepublicopinion.com
This article originally appeared on Watertown Public Opinion: Title-drought of 41 years ends for Hamlin's boys basketball progam
