By Rodney Haas 

605 Sports 

SIOUX FALLS — St. Thomas More coach Dave Hollenbeck joined an exclusive company winning his 500th career coaching win. 

Hollenbeck got his milestone with a 65-57 win over Mount Vernon-Plankinton in Friday afternoon’s Class A consolation round.  

“I feel honored to be at this point,” said Hollenbeck, who’s been coaching for 27 years — all at St. Thomas More. “Obviously it means I’m getting old. I’ve been really fortunate to have good kids play for me. I’ve had a really good coaching staff that has been with me what seems like forever. I work at a good school and good administration. I just feel very fortunate.”

Larry Luitjens is the all-time winningest boys basketball coach in South Dakota history with 748 wins. Hollenbeck is the 10th coach in South Dakota boys basketball history to win 500 or more games, joining Luitjens, Gary Munsen, Burnell Glanzer, Gayle Hoover, Paul Raasch, Mike Tuschen, Frank Cutler, Jim Schlekeway and Doug Groth.

Hollenbeck admitted it would’ve been nice to get the milestone on Thursday night, instead the No. 2 seed Cavaliers were upset 53-50 after Elk Point-Jefferson’s Devon Schmitz hit a buzzer-beating 3-pointer.   

“It was a tough loss. We come here to try and win the championship and when you fall short like that, it’s tough on the kids,” Hollenbeck said. “I was proud of the way they came back today. They had a great first half and shot the ball with confidence and played pretty good defence.”

St. Thomas More jumped to a 21-11 lead after the first quarter and led 43-26 at halftime and 54-40 at the end of the third quarter. 

Caleb Hollenbeck led the Cavaliers with 28 points while Lee Neugebauer added 16 points. 

“It makes it a little more special having him out on the court and he’s having a good year and he had a good game today,” said Hollenbeck of sharing the milestone moment with his son Caleb. 

Hollenbeck added getting the 500th win at the state tournament is extra special for him as St Thomas More has qualified for the last 16 of 20 state tournaments. 

“When I look back I just think of how lucky I am to have coached these kids that have come through the program. I have some amazing alumni that were here tonight,” he said.  

“Their family put their trust in me. Their parents put their trust in me to try and help mould their kids and I’ve had tremendous support from our school.”