Basketball - SDPB State Championship Coverage

Basketball is more than a game to the people of Pine Ridge. We meet several community members who tell us more about how it has expanded over the years and impacted the lives of players and their families.

The state of South Dakota lost a good one last month with the passing of Denis ‘Deny’ Lather. Not only was he quick-witted, funny, and extremely sociable, but his knowledge of sports in the state and his passion for coaching – it’s obvious there can only ever be one Deny Lather.

Relive the best dunks from the 2025 South Dakota Boys Basketball Tournaments

Mitch Reed, the superintendent at Florence, was doing radio play-by-play for the Castlewood games on New Country KS93. His color commentator for Thursday and Saturday was Taven Sumner, a fourth grader from Florence. Not only is Taven (probably) the youngest broadcaster to ever call a state championship game, but he’s also blind.

Sioux Falls Christian gets their revenge against Hamlin in a rematch of the 2024 Class A Boys Basketball State Championships. The Chargers came out on top this time around, 61-51.

On this edition of In Play, Craig Mattick talks with Terry Nielsen, John Papendick, and Alex Heinert about their relationship and memories of the Howard Wood Relays.