(upbeat music) - I remember right when I moved here, my dad and I were in the gym and we're looking around at the banners and we're trying to find when the last time Yankton won a state title was for basketball.

And we find it 1978, it says Bucks Basketball.

And he's like, you can help us get one?

It's like, yeah, I think so.

(upbeat music continues) - [Coach] A kid that's as talented as he is at six seven and you know, got a good frame and strong.

And then his ability to handle the basketball and shoot the basketball.

You know, play with his back to the basket.

Maybe his best skill is passing.

It's just a unique combination of skill sets that, you know really makes it fun to coach because there's a lot of different things that you can do with that as a coach.

(announcer yelling) - [Narrator] Matthew Mors is an elite talent on the court.

Who has the drive and discipline to live up to the hype.

The Yankton Buck standout first got his chance to play varsity as a seventh grader.

And now as a senior, his legacy with basketball may just be getting started.

(upbeat music ends) (upbeat music starts) - [Matthew Mors] Basketball means to me just about more than anything in my life.

(yelling) I mean, I've always put my family and God and school, everything at the forefront.

But after that, it's been basketball for my whole life.

(cheering) - [Narrator] Matthew was born in Huron, but before he started kindergarten, his family moved to Freeman.

It was there that his love for basketball started.

- As a elementary student in Freeman, as soon as I would take off my principal hat and put on my head basketball coaching hat, Matthew would be in the gym immediately, you know, shooting around doing things.

- In a smaller town there's not much else to go do besides watch the basketball teams play or with my case, I was with my dad just about every single day and it never got old.

I loved it.

I loved every single thing about it.

- Sports has been part of our family.

We kind of revolve all of our vacations around sports we're, in the summer, we're playing baseball.

They would pitch to Ryan eventually and what Matthew's goal was to catch one of Ryan's pop fly balls, or, you know, it's just we would do that and that's what we do all summer long.

(upbeat music continues) - I first met Matthew probably back in 2008 playing Peewee baseball there in Freeman.

And it's one of those deals where you play like only a couple innings and everybody bats but the last batter can always, his goal was to score no matter where he hits the ball, if he hits it to the pitcher or whatever.

Well, that was Matthew's spot.

When I first met him or saw him play I was like who is this kid?

And then I realized he was, he was younger than most of the kids and bigger and taller.

So it was, it was pretty obvious right away at a very young age that Matthew had so much potential.

- [Matthew] I'd say baseball was my first love.

Like I was big, yeah, but I was like, I was fast.

I was agile.

I was like hitting home, runs left and right.

And just, I love baseball.

I love pitching and just everything that I brought.

Baseball and other sports also bring you relationships that you may have not had otherwise where like I built relationships with coaches, players, and just a whole bunch of people just from playing a different sport.

- [Narrator] Before Matthew was done with elementary school his family moved to Yankton.

It was there where his varsity basketball career would start as a seventh grader.

- A seventh grader in AA hasn't ever really been brought up and I've been getting like significant minutes.

And so it was a process with everyone in Yankton where there was some evaluating that had to be done and just some checking out to make sure that like I was ready and the people around me would be ready.

And like everyone wanted this.

And I like, I remember the seniors, I didn't know this at the time, but the seniors, we went to Creighton team camp and they went to coach Haynes and asked if I would join them and go in there.

Like, I didn't know that at the time so I thought that was super cool.

- [Narrator] As an eighth grader Matthew's minutes increased.

And by his freshman year, the Bucks team was poised to make a historic run.

Yankton qualified for the state tournament as the 11th seat, but wins in the quarterfinals and semis put them into a championship showdown against Harrisburg.

- And I think that year we just were so focused on one goal and that was winning.

We weren't one of the top team no one thought Yankton was gonna win a state title that year.

And I don't even know if we thought it, we were just winning games and I just think winning that state title was huge for our community.

And they were our biggest supporters.

- [Announcer] And for the first time in 40 years the Yankton Bucks are state boys basketball champs.

- It means everything.

For everybody that's every been to Yankton, everyone.

It's been huge, it's just been forever since we've did it.

And hopefully we can keep getting near and trying to get to this point.

(cheering) - [Narrator] Going into his sophomore season Mors had one goal in mind.

Do it again.

But the universe had other plans.

(announcer yelling) - That was tough for not only myself but the whole team, whole community.

And it's hard to talk about it where like we think it's late, but it's like it doesn't matter now.

I know I learned from it.

I used it as motivation.

Whenever I'd be doing a basketball workout, anything.

It's just like, I'm thinking of that moment, thinking of that time where, okay, just push a little bit harder here so you can not even let that situation happen.

And so that was my motivation.

And going into my junior year.

- [Narrator] Misfortune would strike again during Matthew's junior year.

With the state basketball tournament's being canceled because of the global pandemic.

Now as a senior, he's got one goal in mind.

(announcer yelling) - I want to win a state title.

And that's my only goal for this season.

Personal stats, not concerned.

I just want to win.

- [Narrator] Next year, Matthew Mors will continue his basketball career at the collegiate level for the University of Wisconsin.

Whatever his future holds, those closest to him will always value who he is as a person.

- It's kind of crazy as the player of that caliber is a good friend of yours but, you know I just think the sky's the limit for him in the future.

And I'm excited to see what it, what it brings for him.

He's going great places and doing these awesome things but he's still remembering, you know friendships from when he was a young kid.

You know, that's pretty special.

- For us it's just that we've been together now for going on six years and that's unique in itself.

So to get to see Matthew grow up the last six years and to watch him mature as a young man has really been a neat experience for me and I think for all, all the coaching staff.

(upbeat music continues)