Hein brothers continue to make school history
Blooming Prairie’s Gabe Hein celebrates with the Awesome Blossoms’ student section after a big 47-46 win over Southland. Hein and the Awesome Blossoms improved their record to 22-2 last week. Staff photo by Johnnie Phillips
Blooming Prairie twin brothers Gabe and Zach Hein have been on a tear this season for the Awesome Blossoms’ boys basketball team, and part of their battle to help their team win games has led to them also competing for school records.
In the team’s 2023-24 season debut Gabe set the school record for points. Just last Friday, Zach broke his own twin’s record by dropping 50 points against Alden-Conger.
“In the first half, I just started off hot. I had 29 in the first half. Everyone was kind of just joking around like, ‘Hey, what if you broke Gabe’s record.’ In the second half everyone was trying to move the ball around and get it to me to give me a shot,” said Zach on his record-setting performance.
Records like the ones set by Gabe and Zach have been tough to beat in the past, but those same rules don’t seem to apply for Blooming Prairie’s dynamic duo.
Before Drew Kittelson broke the single-game scoring record in 2022 with 48 points, the record had stood for 65 years.
This season alone it has been broken twice in the regular season – which isn’t even over yet.
However, one record has been hardly the only achievement the Hein’s have been eyeballing.
Zach Hein’s big night against Alden-Conger also saw him set two more records: most career three pointers (172) and most threes in a single game (10.)
On top of that, he now only needs 50 more points to reach the 1,000 point mark in his career – a feat that Gabe reached last Monday in a win over Southland.
While also aiming to regain his single-game scoring record, Gabe also has the opportunity to become Blooming Prairie’s single-season scoring champion with 16 points over the next two games.
It’s safe to say that the Heins have taken Class A basketball by storm their senior year and are making waves that are being felt statewide.
“Our main sport has always been basketball. It’s always been our goal to try and help out a team and do something big here. To have our name, like when people hear ‘Hein’ to think of Blooming Prairie basketball, it’s a really good feeling to know that we put in that work and it paid off,” said Gabe Hein.