George Ferguson
Havre Daily News Sports
gferguson@havredailynews.com
Football players won't be the only Havre High School athletes playing college athletics next fall. That is because HHS senior Ty Hedalen recently announced that he has signed a national letter of intent to play basketball for the Montana Tech Orediggers and head coach Mike Bauer.
Hedalen, a 6-5, 190-pound forward, averaged 16 points and six rebounds in his senior season for the Blue Ponies. He also shot 55 percent from the field and 70 percent from the foul line, all the while dealing with a serious case of whooping cough that hindered his play towards the end of the season.
Still, Hedalen's upside was enough for Bauer and the Orediggers to bring him into their program and he couldn't be more pleased with how things worked out.
"I just talked to Coach Tait on the phone and they invited me down to Butte for a visit," Hedalen said. "Once I got there I talked to a business professor and talked to the coaches and I also played with some of the guys on the team.
"I really liked the school and the business department as well as the coaching staff. In the end, it was a perfect fit for me."
And Hedalen might just turn out to be a perfect fit for the Orediggers. Hedalen's coach, HHS head man John Barnhorst certainly thinks so.
"Ty has a real knack for scoring around the basket and he can use both hands really well," Barnhorst said. "He has a variety of post moves and he is a really good passer. He is just one of the post players that is really difficult to defend.
"I think Tyler has a lot of potential and he could do very well in an offense like Tech's," he added.
Of course Hedalen also feels like he can do very well in Montana Tech's business program, which is his major of choice. He will graduate from Havre High next week with an outstanding 3.8 GPA and he has participated in activities such as DECA as well as the HHS drama department.
"Getting a good education is my first priority," Hedalen said. "And after talking with the business professor there and touring the school I think it will be a great place to study business and get a college degree."
Basketball will also be part of the curriculum. Hedalen said that while no plans have been worked out as of yet, the two-time all conference and all-state player would prefer to redshirt his first year on campus.
"The coaches said that everybody works out together in the fall and then they bring you in and let the player decide on what to do," he said. "I think it would be best for me to redshirt because when I get a chance to play I want to make an impact and help the team out and not just be mediocre out there.
If I redshirt, I can work on my game and get stronger, so that I am ready to play Frontier Conference basketball."
