2022-23 Boys Basketball

With the 2022-23 basketball season now finished for the year and shelved into our memory banks, we thought we’d take a look at some of the highlights of the boys’ year, which culminated at the state tournament.

As a team, the 22-23 Hawks had a number of accomplishments, such as winning the Conference, District, and Division, while they also had several interesting statistical records, when compared to previous Broadus teams.

Some individual records may be seen as controversial when comparing the years of old, such as varsity eligibility of current players compared to those of old (up to 5 years now, compared to the previous 4 years of eligibility, and years ago many if not most players didn’t see 4 years of varsity playing time), as well as the nebulous differences between Class C and Class B basketball. Despite these differences, some team records stand on their own.

During the season, the Hawks were known to share the ball quite well. This ability to find the open man helped the 2022-23 team break the record for the number of assists in a game. On Jan 7 against Plevna, the Hawks tied the previous record of 24, held by Coach Safranski’s 1990 Hawks, which came against Roundup. Twice more in the season – at Ekalaka and against St. Labre, the 22-23 Hawks beat the record, recording 25 team assists each game.

The 22-23 team had 4 other games in the top 20 for assists, with 19 or more team assists in seven total games over the season.

The 90-91 season still holds the record by a wide margin for overall assists over the season, with 617 total. This year the team put up 387.

The 22-23 Hawks also put up the third highest 2 point shooting percentage over the course of the season as a team, collectively shooting 53.4%. The 89-90 and 90-91 Hawks held both of those records, topping out at 57.6%.

On March 9th at the state tournament the Hawks shot 66.7% on 2 point shots, good enough for 4th all time for a Broadus team at any game. They shot a bit better against Jordan in January at 67.4%, while the top two games of all time were 71.1 and 78.1%, during the 21-22 season.

Two individuals on the Hawks team had special, All-State worthy seasons, and were recognized with that distinction after the season ended – Dillon Gee and Marcus Mader.

The two graduating seniors were honored by playing in the Billings Hotel Senior Classic, held the week after state at Billings Senior High School, featuring top 12th grade athletes from around the state, competing along with other seniors from their respective basketball divisions against other divisions and classes. 16 teams in total competed, with 4 teams from each division, from classes AA-C.

The Southern C played four games at the tournament, beating the Northern A 83-61, with Dillon Gee knocking down 15 points. They beat the Southern B 109-64, with Marcus Mader scoring 27 and Gee 23. In the semi-finals the Southern C, which also featured star players such as Broadview-Lavina’s Kade Erickson and Melstone’s Bryce Grebe, beat the athletes from the much larger schools of the Northern AA, by a score of 82-67, with Dillon Gee leading the team with 30 points, and Mader adding 22.

In the championship, the Southern A came away with the win, beating the Southern C 119-78. Mader had 16 points in the game.

Over the course of Marcus and Dillon’s high school basketball careers, which began in 8th grade when eligibility was announced for 8th graders at the high school level, their teams went 81-44 overall.

Dillon finished second in the all time Hawk record books in points scored, with 1,523, and Marcus finished fifth overall, with 1,425 points. Shawn Samuelson still holds the overall record for the Hawks, with an astounding 2,146 career points. Shawn’s younger brothers Kevin and Cody hold the 3rd and 4th spots respectively, with 1,477 and 1,453 points. All three Samuelsons played four seasons.

Dillon had a 34 point game in 2021 against Harlowton in the Divisional Tourney to come in 4th overall in Hawk single game scoring. Shawn Samuelson still holds that record for his 44 point game against then #1 ranked Lodge Grass in 1991, while his dad, Sid, scored 42 points and 37 points to hold 2nd and 3rd place, with those games taking place in 1972.

Dillon Gee put up 43 blocks in total this season, and had 7 in a game against Plevna, putting him 4th in blocks per game. Shawn Samuelson holds first on that list with 10, and is tied with his dad for second with 8 in a game.

Gee had 258 rebounds this season and 851 in his career, putting him third on the all-time list of Hawks, behind Shawn Samuelson with 1,374 and Cody Samuelson with 934. Marcus Mader snagged 498 rebounds, for sixth on the all-time list, trailing Tayden Gee with 674 and James Riley with 593.

Marcus Mader had 86 assists this season, and 11 in a game. Bill Hoffman has the season record with 195 in 90-91, and Josh Gardner has the single game record with 15, in 1994.

Mader leads the Hawks in career assists, with 453, beating Kyle Bogner’s 431 from 93-96.

Marcus also now holds the Hawk all time career steal record, with 279. Cody Samuelson had 220 in four years of play from 99-02.

Another highlight for Marcus was sinking seven three pointers against Broadview-Lavina at Divisionals, which was eclipsed only by Beau Kuhbacher’s eight 3-point night in 2019 against Terry at Districts.