RAPID CITY — For the 12th time in school history, the Tigers are boys basketball state champions.

No. 3 Huron upset top-seeded and previously undefeated Sioux Falls Lincoln Patriots, 59-47, to claim the Class AA state championship.

“I’m blessed to coach them,” said Huron head coach Tim Buddenhagen. “They’re great kids, they’re coachable, they do all the right things the right way. And then when people say that we can’t do it, they just stick together and shrug it off because they love each other and they played for each other tonight.”

The Tigers (20-4) also got redemption on the Patriots (23-1) from a 25-point loss on Jan. 16. Senior guard Blake Ellwein says that loss fueled Huron for Saturday’s championship game inside the Ice Arena at The Monument.

“Honestly I’m still trying to process how we did it but we just bought in as a group,” Ellwein said. “When that happens, good things happen. It was just one of those tastes in our mouths after they beat us by 25 we didn’t want to feel again. It’s so surreal, everyone bought in when things weren’t looking good, and we pulled it out.”

The key to the title game was stopping a high-powered Lincoln offense eclipsing 70 points per game this season. Buddenhagen said the first game against the Pats was huge in the team’s defensive adjustments Saturday night.

“Because of that game, we improved defensively, we gapped higher and got bodies in the way of ball handlers early, and then we could get the shooters,” Buddenhagen said. “We put Blake on (Brody) Schafer, which he did a really nice job, and then we could go 1-on-1 with (Sam) DeGroot inside.”

The Tiger defense only forced 12 turnovers in the championship but limited Lincoln to 27.3% from the field and 18.2% from beyond the arc, leading to the top-seeded Patriots’ season-low scoring in the biggest game of the year.

“Just the sense of urgency and, honestly, I feel like we wanted it more,” Ellwein said. “It meant more to our community, more to our coaches, more to our players and more as a group of guys, this is what we worked for.”

Huron rushes the court as time expires defeating Sioux Falls Lincoln for the Class AA championship in the boys state tournament on Saturday at Summit Arena at The Monument in Rapid City. (Matt Gade / 605 Sports)

Buddenhagen added postgame how important the opening quarter would be in setting a tone for Huron. While the Tigers faced a three-point deficit after one, they held Lincoln to just 11 points through eight minutes.

“If you take a look at their games, in the first quarter it’s 19, 20, 25,” Buddenhagen said. “They try to run off the court in the first quarter, and we were able to stabilize them and then get good shots. Make them really work on defense, and then make them work for every shot on the other end.”

An Ellwein basket midway through the second quarter gave Huron it’s first lead of the game at 15-14. Blake hit a 3-pointer while his brother, Myles, dropped in two points to give Huron a seven-point halftime lead.

Through a seesaw third quarter, the Tigers increased its lead to nine points on a Chase Schuchhardt 3-pointer, with Schuchhardt hitting two free throws at the end of the third quarter to push the lead to 38-28.

The Tigers kept its foot on the gas in the final frame going up by as much as 17 points to secure the win, and the state championship.

Buddenhagen, who coached the Tigers to its last state title in 2004, says this moment has been a long time coming.

“Waited since 2004 for this moment and it was well worth it,” Buddenhagen said. “As you get older in your coaching journey, you just never know if you’re ever going to get back here again and these kids took me on the ride of a lifetime so I’m so grateful for them.”

The longtime head coach added the toughness his squad displayed all season long, and especially in the state championship.

“We’re from Huron, we’ve got to be tough,” Buddenhagen said. “Nobody likes us when we go to places, we know that we play with a chip on our shoulder. We always tell them we’ve got to be more physical, we’ve got to be the toughest and the more desperate team, and I thought we did that tonight.

“If you go to Huron and look at the banners, just about every 10 years we win one. And now it’s been 22 years and we just haven’t been able to get over that hurdle, and these are the guys that I thought could do it. We’ve got talent and they work their tails off.”

Blake, a future South Dakota State Jackrabbit, capped off a stellar career with 18 points, 10 rebounds and two assists in his final high school basketball game. He noted how special the championship feels after winning just six games in his eighth-grade season.

Huron hoists the Class AA state trophy after their win over Sioux Falls Lincoln in the Class AA championship in the boys state tournament on Saturday at Summit Arena at The Monument in Rapid City. (Jon Akre / 605 Sports)

“It means a lot to me because when I came in, things were not good, and then we turned it around and slowly kept building,” Blake said. “This is one of those things you want to end your career on as a high school player.”

“He’s got a lot of talent, he’s got a lot of height, but that doesn’t produce skill,” Buddenhagen said of Blake. “You’ve got to get in the gym, you’ve got to do the work. When everyone else is out doing stuff, you’ve got to get your tail in the gym and he did that and he was a great role model for our program.”

Myles added 15 points and three rebounds, Schuchhardt added eight points, Carter Porisch netted seven points and four rebounds while Davis Chase had six points, 10 rebounds and three blocks in the win.

Lincoln’s Sam DeGroot totaled 20 points and eight rebounds, Schaeffer added 14 points, six steals, three rebounds and three assists while Brody Nour had five points and three assists in the loss.

After losing to Sioux Falls Lincoln in the state championship game in 2009, the Tigers finally got its revenge, putting Huron back on top of the Class AA mountain.

“You had the 2020 team that was really good, they didn’t get their chance,” Ellwein said. “You had the 2009 team that got beat by 30, and then you had the 2004 team that put the standard back up, and that’s where we wanted to be.”