The rivalry between the North Dakota State Bison and the South Dakota State Jackrabbits is a very noted rivalry in college sports, but at Pius X, it hits a little closer to home.
Seniors Sam and Jack Hastreiter grew up playing basketball and doing so together most of the way.
“We started on the same team with our dad, going up through YMCA and kind of just did it for fun, didn’t really do it seriously until about my freshman year,” Sam said.
Jack touched a little more on their path once they hit high school.
“Once high school started, we were the only freshman to make a higher team than freshman, we made reserve, and then sophomore year, I made JV, [Sam] made varsity, and then junior and senior year, we were on varsity,” Jack said.
They have both decided to take their basketball talents onto the next level, both choosing to go to division one programs.
Jack chose to go just a bit north of Nebraska, signing with South Dakota State.
“The fit (at South Dakota State) was perfect,” Jack said. “It just felt like family.”
Sam, on the other hand, went a bit farther, and chose to play for the border rival North Dakota State.
“When I went up to visit, it just felt right,” Sam said.
He said they were also the first division 1 school to reach out to him and seriously talk to him, which played a crucial role.
Teammates of the Hastreiter brothers spoke very highly of how they carried themselves.
Senior teammate Jack Noel talked about how the two of them pushed everyone on the team to be the best versions of themselves on and off the court and set very high goals for themselves and for the team.
Coaches were also very complimentary of their performance over the years
“They’re both very dedicated players that spend a lot of time outside of just practice and organized stuff getting themselves ready to be able to play,” Pius X head basketball coach Brian Spicka said.
Despite being close, Spicka does not believe that being twin brothers played a role in picking rival schools.
“They both ended up choosing really well in my opinion, I think both schools fit them very well,” Spicka said.
Both Sam and Jack mentioned the ways that they helped each other along the way, ranging from
helping each other in recruiting processes, to simply playing with each other in the backyard.
