Blake Ellwein, a senior guard from Huron, was crowned the 2026 South Dakota Mr. Basketball award winner during a ceremony held on May 14 at the Huron Arena.
Ellwein led the Huron High School team to a 20‑4 record and secured the Class AA boys basketball championship, highlighted by a 25‑of‑27 performance at the free‑throw line in the state tournament.
The award, selected annually by coaches across the state, recognized his 21.5 points per game average, 1,535 career points — the most in Huron history — and his three‑time Class AA all‑state and three‑time All‑Eastern South Dakota Conference honors.
Historical context
He joins an exclusive list of Huron alumni who have earned the Mr. Basketball distinction, following Rod Merriam in 1980 and Eric Hall in 2004, while other finalists such as Jackson Wadsworth, Samuel DeGroot, Marvin Richard III and Will Kuhl rounded out the competition.
The honor was presented by Hansen Anderson Basketball, the long‑standing publication founded in 1977 by Richard Hansen and Dave Anderson that annually spotlights the state’s top teams and players.