The Britton-Hecla boys basketball team continued to show progress this past season, finishing above .500, bettering its season mark for the fourth straight season, and advancing to the semifinals in Region 1A.
Coach Troy Knecht’s club wrapped up the 2025-26 campaign with a 13-9 record, falling to Webster Area in the regional semifinals but avenging a regular season loss and stopping Aberdeen Roncalli in first round regional play.
“I think we took big steps this year towards where we want to be,” said Knecht. “We were over .500 for the first time in my tenure, we beat several teams we haven’t beaten in a while, and I feel like the overall trajectory of our program is trending up.
“Now, we have to be more competitive with the upper end of our competition to take the next step,” added the Braves’ boss. “How do we do that? Shooting is the first thing that comes to mind. We were a 24% three-point shooting team and in today’s game that won’t cut it. Getting lots of shots up this summer will be crucial to our success. Finding some competition this summer at some teams camps will also be important along with getting in the weight room.
“We are really close, but the kind of toughness and confidence we need to level up won’t be found if we don’t do the hard things. If we just do what everyone else does then that’s who we will be…everyone else. I feel like we have the nucleus to tack on some more wins next year but time will tell if we are willing to make the sacrifices necessary to get there.
“I hope the boys are as excited about our future as I am,” Knecht concluded. “I should also mention we are going to miss our seniors, Ben Folkman, Jaxon Zuehlke, and Will Richter. They were class acts and were really good leaders for us. We will need some guys to step up to fill those rolls.”
Richter led the Braves in scoring for the season, averaging 10.6 points per contest. Zuehlke was right behind at 9.3, sophomore Chaz Vietor chipped in with 8.5 per game, and junior Graham Fosness netted 5.8 per outing in a season shortened to 13 games due to a season-ending injury. Zuehlke was the team’s top rebounder with 7.6 boards per game (2.7 offensive rebounds), Vietor pulled down 5.6 (2.5 offensive) and Fosness corralled 4.5.
As a team the Braves shot 40% from the field with Zuehlke hitting 44.2% of his tries (48.9% on two-point shots) and sophomore Nathan Folkman connecting at a 43.3% clip (48% on two-pointers). Sophomore Jack Teveldal was the top three-point shooter at 41.4%, while Ben Folkman and Richter were both at 27.1% and Lofton Heer at 26.7%. Richter led the way from the charity stripe at 67.4%, Nathan Folkman hit 59.6% and junior Mitchell Burger 54.3%.
Richter led the team in assists with 3.1 per game and Burger dished out 1.8 per outing. Richter also led in steals with a 2.0 average, and Zuehlke and Fosness averaged 1.8. Zuehlke also blocked 1.1 shots per contest.
