It was a pretty weekend, Bryson Bahl ain’t gonna lie.
Coming as it did in the aftermath of his school’s first-ever Metro Conference boys basketball tournament championship, and all.
On a night where the all-state senior played a bit of a supporting role - when you score 21 in what can be termed “a supporting role” you’re doing something right - Bryson and his Papillion-LaVista South team held off previously unbeaten Omaha Westside, 60-59, in last Thursday’s Metro championship game. Bryson had 21, his friend and teammate Levi Webb led the team with 27.
Before the game Bryson knew his team had managed to reach the fourth Metro semifinal in program history, and in head coach Joel Hueser’s pregame remarks somewhere in there he mentioned this was the first time Papio South had ever played in the Metro Conference tournament championship game. “It all went in one ear and out the other,” says Bryson. “I was concentrating on the task at hand, but after it was all over it was crazy, crazy awesome.”
Sorta like the kind of basketball Bryson Bahl plays. The kid has set a school career scoring record with 1,419 total points (and counting), this season averaging 27.3 points per game despite everybody guarding him, and the 6-foot-5, 180-pound senior adds eight rebounds per game.
“We weren’t too fond with being seeded sixth and having to play as the road team in the second round,” says Bryson. “We took that to heart. All along we felt like we had the best team in the state.”
If you need further proof just check out his team’s gutsy performance in the Metro semifinals. Facing the only team to beat them this season - Millard South - the Titans overcame a Patriots 13-0 scoring run which cost Papio South the lead by putting their own 10-0 blitz, then holding on for a 65-59 victory. Bryson? He had 21 and seven in that one.
“That game showed that no matter the situation our team never stops fighting,” says Bryson. He’s The Guy on the team, he knows it and everybody else does too, but that doesn’t mean there isn’t pressure to perform. Making that job easier is having a great supporting cast. “We have such a great team. I have played basketball with Reece (Kircher) for seven years, and now with Levi (Webb) when I am not on my game I have other guys who can back me up.”
Coming from a (very) athletic family, Bryson started playing basketball “super young” as a member of the Junior Monarchs program in Papillion. He learned the game by playing lots of back patio basketball against his older brother, Hayden, the games won by the first guy to get to 100. That’s a lot. “I wanted to be like him, I even changed to his number (44),” remembers Bryson, who says he attended “tons of games” which helped him develop his off-the-charts basketball IQ.
Born in Omaha, Bryson comes from a family chock full of athletes including his brothers Hayden (baseball at UN-Omaha) and Brody (football at Midland) and sister Jordy, who was a three-time all-state softball pitcher in high school, going on to set all sorts of records at the University of Oklahoma before transferring home to Nebraska, on to miss last season due to injury. That’s a lot of athletes who are used to winning, so what’s it like when they are all together. “It can get really competitive but it helps that we all have different sports,” says Bryson. “It’s a lot of fun to talk sports in our family.” Another sport, fishing, is also a favorite of Bryson’s. “I like fishing for bass,” he mentions, adding his father has a friend with about 20 stocked ponds on private land in the Syracuse, Neb., area. “That’s sort of cheating but it’s still fun.”
An outstanding classroom student, Bryson has earned a 3.8 GPA and he played two years of football in high school before giving basketball his full attention. He had plenty of options but last November Bryson signed to play his college basketball at South Dakota State University. “I loved the coaching staff, they recruited me hard and even showed up at my games after I committed,” says Bryson. “They have great facilities up there and I felt a connection with the players on the team. It’s just a good vibe around the program.”
At SDSU he plans to study engineering, probably civil, citing his natural ability with numbers.
So now what? I mean, winning the Metro Conference tournament at all - to say nothing of the first time in school history - is a rush, a real feeling of achievement. But it’s only January, and while making some school history was fun that’s not the endgame, not if you ask Bryson. Which we did.
“For us it’s one big game to another. For instance this week we have the Monarchs,” which just happens to be the mascot of his team’s arch rival, Papillion-LaVista High. “Every game is a big game for us, and now we have a bigger target on our back for winning the tournament. But this team is so connected with such a strong bond, and we have so many shooters on our team, so many options, we feel like when we play our best we our the best team in the state.”
Given what’s happened here lately, that’s hard to argue.
