Winner plays at state on same day Horstman is at national tourney

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SIOUX FALLS - Jim Drake, head coach for the Winner boys’ basketball team, likes his team’s routine to be consistent.

“We’ve tried to keep a routine that we’re familiar with,” Drake said. “Whether we’re playing in one of the classics or the state tournament, we have a routine that we’ve used the last few years.”

That routine has Winner playing in the Class A state tournament for the third consecutive season.

But many would have thought the routine was missing one key component this year — Zach Horstman, who’s now playing for the South Dakota State University men’s basketball team.

Horstman was the leader of the Warriors the last two seasons when the team earned trips to the state tournament. He received co-Mr. Basketball honors as well as the South Dakota Gatorade Player of the Year after averaging 18.2 points per game last year.

Horstman set career records at his high school, finishing with 2,006 career points and 577 rebounds.

On Thursday, Winner lost its first-round state tournament game to Dell Rapids 74-30, just hours before Horstman was on the bench for SDSU in Albuquerque, N.M., at the NCAA national tournament.

The 14th-seeded Jackrabbits lost to third-seeded Bay 67-60. Horstman did not see any playing time in the game.

The Jackrabbits were knocked out of the national tournament, while Winner will continue playing today.

The Warriors play Tri-Valley at 1 p.m. today at Sioux Falls Arena, the same venue that SDSU and Horstman won the Summit League tournament at last week.

Tags: state boys basketball, sports, winner, basketball