The 17u Run-Through: The Pentagon Schoolers
The Dakota Schoolers, the Pentagon Basketball Club, and now together they are the Pentagon Schoolers! That’s this year’s 17u club that begins play this weekend in the Spring Jam.
The Roster. Ten players in all, four from the 2020 class, six from the 2019 class. Eight from South Dakota, ten from North Dakota. The team has really good size with one at 6-foot-4, one at 6-foot-5, one at 6-foot-6, two at 6-foot-7, and one at 6-foot-8. Four players from big school basketball, four from Class A in South Dakota, and two from Class B in South Dakota. Derek Robey, the all time leader in victories at Sioux Falls O’Gorman, is the head coach of this team.
The Schedule. The team is playing an eight game schedule starting this weekend and continuing next weekend in Indianapolis at an event called the Terrific 24. That will be followed by three weekends in May playing in the SPTS, and then in July the team plays in the Summer Slam event in Sioux Falls, in the Mullens event in KC, and then finishes things off in Las Vegas at the Fab 48. Three events in Sioux Falls, four around the Midwest, and one in Las Vegas.
From North Dakota. The Pentagon Schoolers grabbed two of the best sophomore prospects in North Dakota and have them on this 17u squad. Six-foot-6 Elijah Klein of Mandan was a double-double guy this past winter averaging 15 points and nine rebounds a game making 62 percent of his shots on his way to All WDA and all state honors. Six-foot-4 Boden Skunberg of Jamestown scored 14 points a game with six rebounds a contest hearing all WDA honors as an underclassmen himself. Both were All State Class A players and Sophomore All-State First Teamers.
South Dakota Sophomores. The local size of this team is from the 2020 class and includes a pair of 6-foot-7 players who gained experience at the Class AA level this year in South Dakota. Andrew Bergan was depended on maybe a bit more than Gavin Terhark each night based on depth and how their years went, but both had several impressive outings and seem ready to be skilled players that should have outstanding upperclassmen years. Both are solid prospects.
All State Guards. Trey King of Irene-Wakonda was an All State Class B player while Justin Hohn was all state in Class A leading his team to state and a strong finish once again (Hohn was the point guard for Tea Area’s state title team as a sophomore and led the team to a runner-up finish this season). King put up 23 points, seven rebounds, 3.5 steals, and 3-4 assists a game for a 14 win team against a fairly tough schedule. Hohn scored 11 a game as a junior and led Tea in assists this season.
More Quality Guards. At 6-foot-3, Charlie Cox scored 11.2 points per game with rebounds a contest for 18-8 Dakota Valley. Cox is a versatile player that was asked to play several spots this year and did it with success. A teammate he is familiar with after some Dak-XII battles is six-foot Quincy Ihnen from Lennox. Ihnen gave his team 10.4 points per game with 3.5 rebounds, two assists, and almost two steals each night this year.
More Size. The biggest player on the team is 6-foot-8 Logan Heim of Dell Rapids. Heim measured at 6-foot-9 and 275 pounds last football season although he is listed at 6-foot-8 on the basketball roster. Either way, this is a massive post for the Pentagon Schoolers. Everyone knew that Logan can rebound and defend in the post, and most are aware of a soft touch, but the memorable item was the threes he hit in the Sweet 16 round that made some headlines. Six-foot-5 Trevin Holland of De Smet was a second team all conference player this year and had some outstanding scoring games in the Class B playoffs.