By Rich Winter

605 Sports

SIOUX FALLS — At the 1996 state basketball tournament Lonnie Heier (Lyman) and Adam DeJong (West Central) squared off in a much anticipated first-round game.

This was before the days of social media, and while each team had heard about the other team, they really didn’t know much. 

“I remember it was really chaotic and coming from West River we weren’t expecting the physical play so right away we got down big,” Heier, now an assistant coach for West Central, said. “Once we got used to the physical play we came back and played the game. We got down big right away and it was 9-0 or something right away.” 

DeJong, who once had 52 points in a 110-105 win over Beresford that remains the highest scoring game in South Dakota history, recalled Lyman passing the eye test right away. 

“I remember that Lyman game and they were humungous with the twin towers Cody Volmer and Lee Severyn,” DeJong said. “We hadn’t seen anything like that before and they were just immensely talented. We didn’t know anything about Lonnie and he was just leading the team down the floor all over the place and they were just so unbelievably talented.”

Lyman won the game with West Central and reached the championship game before losing to Douglas, 54-52.

Nearly 30 years later Heier and DeJong are finally on the same team, cheering for West Central from a coaches and parents point of view. 

Hayden Heier is a 5-feet-9 sophomore and Elliot DeJong is a 6-feet-4 sophomore for a West Central team that qualified for the state tournament this year. Heier finished with two points, two rebounds and two steals in Thursday’s 51-43 loss to Lennox. DeJong finished with two points, two rebounds and a blocked shot.

Now friends, both reflected on finally being on the same team. 

“Lonnie and I got to play in that game and what a full circle moment,” DeJong said. “His son is a really important part of the team and my son is getting a lot of playing time lately. It’s so fun and we kind of cherish this time and not everyone gets to have that experience.” 

“Basically this is what every basketball mom or dad wants is for their kid to play in the state tournament,” Heier said. “My son gets to play and many of my friends from my hometown (Presho) get to play so it can’t get much better than that.”