STARK COUNTY – Sometimes, the standings, statistics and scores all end up satisfactory, but there’s another silver lining to be sought out and seen. That is most-certainly the case with the Glen Ullin-Hebron Bearcats co-op, whose basketball season went just as well as anybody could have hoped – except it might have ended earlier-than-planned – but the friendships that were created amongst the players (going back to elementary-school days) will most-likely continue into college and probably way beyond then.
The four seniors who are graduating from the program – Damian Gerving from Glen Ullin and Kanyon Unruh, Benjamin Hosman and Jamison Opp from Hebron – all pointed out that they wish the year would have ended with a deeper run into the Class B Region 7 Tournament. The Bearcats fell in the second round to the tournament hosts, and eventual third-place team in the region, Hazen Bison, 74-56. But they also finished with a better-than-expected 18-6 record and helped lay down a marker for what the program can achieve despite the odds.
“The seniors led by example for all the year and they’re all good friends,” said Bearcats first-year head coach Bruce Schatz. “But what they meant to the program is that they built the program by being in the gym all the time – they were gym rats – and that made the other, younger athletes go there, too.
“They set a good example for all the younger kids.”
Unruh, who played in all 23 games this year and averaged a team-high 16 points per game on 50.2-percent shooting, said the team was a better squad than they showed in the Region 7 Tournament, but is satisfied with the overall effort. “We played some pretty good competition, too … and I thought we had a pretty successful season,” he said.
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Unruh also led the team in assists, with 3.2 per game, and shot 80.4-percent from the line over the course of the season while snagging 1.5 steals per game. Hosman is his best friend, and they will room together at Bismarck State College in the autumn, while Unruh will be in welding class with Opp as they pursue their degrees in that field. That closeness is a common thread that runs through the team, and they all will end up in pretty close proximity to each other as they move forward in life.
“We’ve all known each other since elementary school, and there’s been people in-and-out of the class but all of us senior boys stayed together all these years,” Unruh said. “I’ll probably stay in Hebron my whole life – that’s my plan – because we ranch pretty heavy and we own some land and I just like it here.”
Hosman, for his part, appreciates the time they all spent in the gym together over the years and said the end result didn’t completely disappoint him, “but, being able to have a successful senior year like that, and being able to have the success we had last year means a lot.”
He also will be participating in BSC’s welding program, and feels that his time on the court was a benefit to his future prospects.
“It improved my work-ethic, going to the gym every single day and being disciplined with workouts especially that, but leadership, too,” Hosman said. “Me and Kanyon were the two leader guards on our team, and – in a way – held the team together when we went through a rough stretch in the middle of the season.
“Just being able to lead guys and communicate and just be on the team, I’d say that’s helped me out the most in my life. Kanyon and I have known each other since fifth-grade, and I will miss playing basketball here the most.”
Hosman finished the year with a 47.4-percent field-goal percentage and 14.4 PPG with 1.8 steals per game and an average of 4.4 APG. He came up less than 50 points from hitting 1,000 points for his career.
Opp, a 5’11” forward who will graduate from Hebron in the summer, agreed with the sentiments of his classmates, but added that it was a fun season and he enjoyed being there to see the younger players like sophomore Riley Schneider stepping up and the standout play of 6’8” junior Will Mickelson, among others.
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“I’ve played for the program since I was in fifth- or sixth-grade, and it was amazing just to see the final result of all the work that they’ve been putting in,” Opp said. “I thought the season was good and I thought we did really great against some teams that we didn’t play that great against last year. There’s times that we could have done better, but I feel like we did amazing.
“I’m just happy and proud for all our boys who played.”
With track & field season approaching, Opp plans to throw his energies into the 100- and 200-meter sprint events for the Bearcats and will be heading to Bismarck State College after graduation to hopefully run track there and earn his welding degree.
Glen Ullin senior Damian Gerving said that while he won’t graduate with his teammates, it doesn’t make them any-less close because of the time they’ve spent together on the court. “It’s been pretty normal throughout my career to be the only one from Glen Ullin, and I’ve known most of them through basketball since fourth-grade.
“Since we’ve been playing together since elementary it works really good. We will always be teammates, that’s for sure.”
A 1,000-point scorer, Gerving, who is a 6’2” forward and finished the season with an 11.8 PPG average and shot almost 60-percent from the field while averaging 8 rebounds a game, plans to get his CDL license upon graduation so he can start work quickly driving a truck for one of his uncles in the area.
For Schatz, who took over the team as a volunteer early-on in 2022, Glen Ullin-Hebron will see three returning starters coming back next season, so the future also is bright for the program. But losing the four graduates will leave a mark.
“We will be a respectable team next year, but it’s tough to replace them,” Schatz said. “When you walk into a program like that and you’ve got four seniors who lead by example, it made it easier for me.”
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For more information about the Glen Ullin-Hebron Bearcat co-op events calendar, please visit the school Web site at https://www.district14nd.org/public/genie/229/school/5/ .
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