Hennens trade spikes for sneakers

Thomas Hennen put down his baseball glove this summer and instead has been lacing up his basketball sneakers while playing with his younger brother Jacob.

“I signed up to play Legion baseball, but I decided that it would take up so much of my time. And basketball is my favorite, for sure,” said Thomas Hennen.

The Hennens have been playing this summer with their Minneota teammates in a traveling league and three open tournaments, as well as playing together on a Sioux Falls team coached by Minneota native Shane Hennen, a cousin to the Hennen brothers.

“Jacob and I attended a basketball camp at Mankato and one at SDSU, too,” said Thomas.

“And Shane has a camp in Minneota that we went to. It’s been a busy summer, but it’s been a lot of fun.”

Thomas was an all-conference shortstop and pitcher for Minneota this past spring. He was also an all-conference wide receiver in football last fall.

And in basketball, Thomas reached the 1,000-point plateau as a junior last year and was named the Camden Conference South Most Valuable Player while averaging just over 20 points per game as a swing forward.

Jacob, a shooting guard, was an all-conference honorable mention pick as a freshman last year when he averaged 15 points per game and was the team’s second leading rebounder.

Losing a nail-biter to Russell-Tyler-Ruthton in the Section 3A championship last winter was a hard pill to swallow for the Hennens and their teammates.

And watching the Knights coast to Class A state title was even harder to watch. “Yeah, that was gut-wrenching to see them win it all,” Thomas said.

“But it also proved that we’re right up there with them. We’ve been growing as a team this summer so we’re looking forward to this season.”

The Minneota summer boys’ basketball team played in two tournaments in Marshall and one in Redwood Falls. They will conclude the season with Sweet 16 Tournament on Aug. 4 at the College of St. Benedict’s in St. Joseph.

“We got invited to that tournament,” said Thomas. “They are taking the top four teams from Class A to 4A and having a 16-team tournament.”

That means that Minneota could end up being pitted against a powerful 4A team. “It will be fun to see how we do against the teams in this tournament,” Thomas said.

“One way to improve is to play top teams like there will be at that tournament. We’ve been growing together as a team this summer.”

The Hennen brothers have also played in six summer tournaments with the Bartlett Basketball Academy Sioux Falls Force, a 17-and-under team. The Force features seven South Dakota players and the two Hennens.

“We played tournaments in Minneapolis, Omaha and Sioux Falls,” Thomas said.

“We play in a tournament in Kansas this weekend. There are going to be a lot of teams in that tournament.”

The Force won the Mr. Basketball Tournament at Augustana last weekend. Thomas scored 34 points in the championship game.

Thomas is the same height (6-3) as he was at the end of the basketball season last winter, but has added around 10 pounds and now weighs 185.

Jacob gained an inch and now matches his brother’s height, while adding 15 pounds from last season and now weighs 175.

“There are definitely some perks to playing with your brother,” Thomas said.

“You know each other’s game and you push each other to get better.”

And there’s one more advantage.

“My parents like it because they only have to go to one game instead of two,” said Thomas.