ABERDEEN — The Howard Tigers are the Class B boys basketball champions. 

That statement didn’t feel like a possibility a few years ago. Just ask Howard coach Nick Koepsell.  

“We were the doormat of the state for about a 10-year stretch,” said an emotional Koepsell on March 16. “People thought of Howard basketball and they’d laugh at you. To think of where we were seven, eight years ago, to where we are now it’s unbelievable.” 

In the 2013-14 and 2014-15 seasons, Howard finished winless and combined for just six wins the following three seasons. The Tigers started turning the corner in the 2018-19 season, recording seven wins.

Howard made the biggest jump in the 2019-20 season, finishing with a 16-6 record. The Tigers continued to pile up wins the following seasons, but were either eliminated in region play or the SoDak 16. 

Howard finally broke through this season, qualifying for its first state boys basketball tournament since 1995. The Tigers looked sharp against Wessington Springs in the opener, outlasted perennial power White River in the semifinals and faced long-time nemesis De Smet in the championship game. 

Howard had lost to De Smet the past 10 meetings, including a 56-46 defeat earlier this season.
“We play De Smet every year,” Koepsell said. “They knock us around. They win championships because of their defense. We’ve won a lot of games because of our defense. Today was no different.”

The Howard boys basketball celebrates winning the Class B state championship on March 16 in Aberdeen. (Trey Kaul / 605 Sports)

The Bulldogs were gunning for their fourth straight state championship, a first in South Dakota boys basketball history since Yankton in 1922-25. 

In an overtime thriller for the ages, the Tigers outlasted De Smet 60-55 for their first state boys basketball championship since 1964. It was De Smet's first state tourney defeat since the 2019 Class B championship game. 

“I have so much respect for a team like De Smet and what they’ve done,” Koepsell said. “We knew everything we were going get tonight, we were going to have to earn it and that was so true. I am not smart enough of a guy to put a word to describe that. But the feeling is just unreal. I am just so happy for the kids.”

Howard weathered a George Jensen buzzer beater at the end of regulation. After Luke Koepsell gave Howard a 52-50 lead with :1.2 seconds left, Jensen corralled a full-court pass, turned and banked in the buzzer for a 52-52 tie. 

“When I came out of the timeout with 1.2 seconds left, I kind of was looking around thinking ‘Wow we did it,’ ” said Luke Koepsell, who had 16 points. “Because I wasn’t expecting that. Then they threw that shot in and for a second there I was like ‘Oh my gosh. We are not going to lose like this.’ We got in the huddle again and we said we are not going to lose. We dug down and we figured out a way.” 

The shot sent the crowd of more than 7,000 people into a frenzy, but Nick Koepsell felt his team still believed despite the buzzer beater. 

“You don’t know how they are going to respond,” Koepsell said. “It’s a gut punch and I am not going to lie. But I looked in their eyes and they knew it was a four-minute ball game. We knew we needed stops. At that point you throw offense out the window and let kids go to work and make plays for you and they did.”

De Smet’s Britt Carlson buried a 3-pointer for a 55-54 Bulldogs’ lead with 1:18 left. 

Howard senior Kolt Koepsell, who finished with 24 points and 13 rebounds, then hit two free throws for a 56-55 advantage. The first one danced on the rim before dropping in.  

“I was reeling it in,” Koepsell described about the free throw. “I was trying to get it to go in and it went in for me. I was praying for it to go.”

After De Smet’s Kadyn Fast missed on its next possession, Howard’s Carson Hinker missed two free throws with 26 seconds left. But Kolt Koepsell, a 6-foot-8 forward, skied in for the offensive rebound and was fouled. 

“When he decides that he wants to get a ball — as big and athletic and strong as he is — he’s going to come down with it and that was about as big of a rebound as you can find,” Nick Koepsell said. 

Kolt Koepsell, who finished 9-of-9 at the free-throw line, drilled two more for a 58-55 spread with 22 seconds left. After a De Smet turnover, Kolt Koepsell was fouled again and hit two more free throws with 12 ticks remaining, pushing it to 60-55. 

The Tigers corralled a rebound on De Smet’s next possession and celebrated their first boys state basketball championship since 1964. 

“Amazing,” Kolt Koepsell said. “I can’t really think of words. Your mind is going so fast you can’t think of words and I am just jumping off the walls.”

Kolt Koepsell is one of five seniors on Howard’s roster, joined by Will Maier, Colby Claussen, Logan Mentele and Taiden Hoyer.  

“These kids that are on the court that won a state championship tonight, I started when they were second and third grade, along with the help of a lot of other coaches and dads,” Nick Koepsell said. “For them to ultimately end with a state championship — those seniors on their last game — it’s the greatest feeling in the world.”