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Slammin’ Slaba: Hanson standout dunking Beavers to fast start

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Hanson's Reggie Slaba (2) goes up for a dunk against Kimball/White Lake on Dec. 30 at the Corn Palace. (Ryan Deal / Republic)

ALEXANDRIA -- Reggie Slaba has always been enamored by dunking.

It was a dream of his growing up, despite always being one of the shortest players. When he was the waterboy and statistician for the Hanson boys basketball team during elementary and middle school, he’d recite every player who could dunk at the Hanson Classic to his father and Beaver assistant coach, Ray.

“He’s always been obsessed with dunking the basketball,” Ray said. “... I never thought he’d be dunking a basketball.”

“I don’t think anybody would’ve,” Hanson coach Josh Oltmanns said when asked if he ever thought Reggie would be able to dunk.

The 6-foot guard didn’t even think he’d have five dunks during Hanson’s 6-1 start in his senior season. He was always undersized, so much so that before his freshman year, Ray took Reggie to the gym to see if he could touch the net. Reggie came up short 25 times.

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He was able to touch the net midway through his freshman season and touched the rim for the first time as a sophomore. He put down his first dunk as a junior and became just the second player in Oltmanns’ 17-year coaching career to have an in-game dunk this season -- Martez Campbell was the other.

“In a game, it’s an awesome feeling,” Reggie said. “Especially in a home crowd, the crowd’s behind you. It’s an awesome feeling.”

It was partly due to Reggie growing a foot in high school, but he also worked on his explosion with plyometric workouts and box jumps. It still amazes Ray, though, who doesn’t take genetic credit since he can, “barely touch the rim.”

“Last year all the time he told me, ‘I can dunk it, I can dunk it.’ He’d go out in practice and try to dunk it, and he couldn’t even dunk it yet then,” Oltmanns said. “I’d always kind of give him a hard time about it.”

Reggie has more than just hops, though. His dunking journey is a microcosm of his career.

He was thrust into playing time as a freshman and was in-and-out of the starting lineup as a sophomore. But midway through his sophomore season, he asked to play with the junior varsity team instead, a first for Oltmanns.

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“I wasn’t getting as much minutes as I probably could’ve,” Reggie said. “I asked coach if I could go down to JV so I could get more minutes and more experience.”

He built up his confidence, setting himself up for his breakout junior campaign. He didn’t have any highlight dunks, rather he relied on the shooting, passing and rebounding arsenal he developed growing up. Even though Reggie dreamt about dunking, Ray reminded him he’d always be a factor if he could shoot and handle the ball.

Reggie has been shooting forever, and has never stopped. Oltmanns credits his school-record 11 made 3-pointers against Avon last year to his willingness to get up shots outside of games. He’s seen that since Reggie was a team manager, when he’d be shooting on the side baskets during high school practice.

“He used to annoy coach because he and the other guys would be pounding the balls over on the side baskets when we’re trying to talk,” Ray said. “Once in a while, we had to tell them to stop shooting.”

His ball-handling skills, limitless range and, now, leaping ability has made him a threat from all areas on the floor, even if Oltmanns still is trying to get him to drive more often. But this season boils down to the postseason after Hanson came a game away from the SoDak 16 last year.

“(Making the state tournament) is the most important thing this year,” he said. “Obviously we lost a heartbreaker last year. That’s something you really want to do as a senior.”
Reggie’s competitiveness works in his favor and, even after 17 years, stands out to Oltmanns. It’s what drove him to be a Class 9AA all-state defensive back this season, while breaking the school 800-meter record in a Class B state-winning time of 1:58.46.

And now, the once-undersized guard has options. He has a scholarship offer for South Dakota State University track and field, University of Sioux Falls football and Dakota State University basketball. He’s also talking to Dakota Wesleyan University and Mount Marty about playing basketball. He doesn’t know what or when he’ll decide.

“He’s shown other kids -- not just in our program, but our whole school -- that if you work your tail off, you can get good at something,” Oltmanns said.

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