Buffalo boys basketball coach Josh Ortmann knew there was potential with this season’s team.

Success, though, has come more quickly than he anticipated.

Behind two sophomore standouts, an inexperienced group has blossomed into a team with a 15-1 record — surpassing the total number of wins for last year’s team — and the No. 3 ranking in Class 4A, the state’s largest classification in basketball.

With the state tournament less than two months away, the Bison have become Minnesota’s most surprising basketball success story this season.

“We’re with the kids every day, and we get to see them,” Ortmann said. “We kind of knew we had some kids coming up where there was a lot of potential there.”

So far, Buffalo has defeated Lake Conference opponents like Hopkins, Eden Prairie and Maple Grove. The Bison have to play those teams again, along with defending state champion Wayzata, which is in their section.

The Bison’s only loss was 91-60 at Wayzata on Jan. 6, but that didn’t shake their confidence. The teams meet again Friday at Buffalo tied at 6-1 at the top of the league.

In the latest 4A coaches poll top 10, the Bison are behind Tartan and Wayzata, which are tied for No. 1.

“It’s a brutal schedule for lack of a better term,” Ortmann said. “But our kids, up to date, have done a very nice job. You just hope it can continue into February and March. Just keep taking steps in the right direction.”

The team’s leading scorers have been sophomores Eli Hegle and Thomas Jordan. Hegle went from playing mostly junior varsity last year to leading the Bison with 22.5 points per game entering Jan. 28.

Hegle scored a game-high 31 points against Hopkins and 26 points against Maple Grove.

“We always knew Eli could score the basketball,” Ortmann said. “Rather than saying, ‘Poor me, I should be out there on varsity as a freshman,’ he used it as motivation to work on the areas we asked him. He’s been phenomenal.”

He has also been dedicated. Hegle lifts weights three times per week and is diligent about his nutrition.

Jordan was a key reserve as a freshman last year, but he’s now averaging 19 points per game. Jordan’s brothers, junior twins Matthew and Tony Jordan, and senior Henry Bloomquist are also major contributors.

Thomas Jordan tied his season high with 29 points in the win over Maple Grove.

“A lot of unknowns obviously going into the year,” Ortmann said. “You just don’t know what it’s going to look like when it’s their first time being in all these new experiences on a varsity floor, [like] navigating the difference between winning in JV and an actual varsity game. They’ve responded well.”

The Bison, who won a big-school state title in 2007 when Ortmann was a Buffalo player, have been to the state tournament just once in the last decade. The program also graduated 12 seniors from last year’s team.

Doubters were there from the beginning of the season, wondering whether Buffalo could be a legitimate contender. That question has motivated players to prove themselves every game.

“We like being the underdog,” Thomas Jordan said. “We like going out there and everyone thinking we’re going to lose and surprising people.”

Buffalo style of b-ball

Buffalo won’t blow you away with size or athleticism, but its brand of basketball is a beauty to watch. There’s excellent ball movement and execution with offensive sets. Every player who steps on the floor defends and will outwork opponents with intensity, effort and discipline. The bench brings energy by celebrating each play.

Double teams? No problem. Hegle and Jordan find teammates in stride for backdoor cuts and wide-open three-pointers on kick-out passes. They both can drive to the basket or knock down shots from deep range, but they also love post touches.

“We work on that a lot,” Hegle said. “We try to get a post-up every possession. We’ll just kick it out or score with our footwork.”

Thomas Jordan, at 6-feet-4, is Buffalo’s tallest starter. He and Hegle, at 6-2, have carried the toughness required for football to the hard court. Despite being undersized, their post moves and footwork would impress Basketball Hall of Famer and Minnesota legend Kevin McHale.

Almost the entire Bison rotation teamed up on the Buffalo Legacy AAU squad last spring and summer. That improved their chemistry, even with Thomas and Matthew Jordan the only returning players with meaningful varsity experience last season.

“We’ve played together for a long time,” Hegle said. “We build on that and use that for our advantage.”

Matthew Jordan, the team’s third-leading scorer, scored 32 points in a win vs. Chanhassen on Dec. 17 when Hegle missed playing time because of an injury. Matthew also had 31 points in a win vs. Edina on Jan. 13. Tony Jordan is listed at 6-foot-1, but he was tough enough to battle Maple Grove’s 7-foot Jack Thelen and Hopkins’ 6-9 Ahmed Nur.

“It’s extra special [to play] with my two brothers,” Thomas Jordan said. “I know where they’re going to be and what they’re going to do. We’ve all grown up together and are all best friends. We’re a very connected group.”

So how does this Buffalo crew compare with the 2014 and 2023 teams that advanced to the state tournament? Or what about the 2007 state championship team? Those Bison beat Armstrong in the title game on a basket from Darrin Olmscheid with 2.4 seconds to play.

Ortmann, who played at St. Cloud State, remembers an ankle sprain didn’t keep him out of the championship game. His dream job has been to coach the Bison.

“Buffalo is just a beautiful place to be,” he said. “With sports, when you put a good product on the floor, on the field or on the ice, our community shows up.”

In last week’s win at Minnetonka, Bison fans came in force to cheer their team. After trailing by 12 points in the first half, Buffalo rallied to win after going on a 46-19 run.

”Whether it’s basketball, soccer, hockey or whatever, when fans come to watch our teams play, what will they say about our teams?” said Buffalo activities director Nick Guida, who coached the Bison from 2003 to 2016. “That was always important to me when I coached that people would say: ‘Wow, Buffalo played so hard. Wow, Buffalo is so tough. Wow, Buffalo is so disciplined in everything and [cares] about each other.’ They’re going to know they played against Buffalo.”

That’s exactly what Bison basketball looks like right now, “And guess what?” Guida added. “The scoreboard will take care of itself.”

Basketball Across Minnesota

Fuller’s five

Five Minnesota ballers who stood out:

Regan Hemberger, Perham: The sophomore sharpshooter drilled a school-record 11 three-pointers and scored 33 points for the Yellow Jackets, who hit 18 threes in a win Jan. 22 vs. Hawley.

Addison Bjorklund, Brainerd: The 6-foot junior and North Dakota commit led the Warriors girls with a season-high 31 points, 16 rebounds, three assists and three blocks in a 79-56 win against Blaine.

Eli King, North Dakota: The former Caledonia standout filled up the stat sheet with 18 points, seven rebounds, seven steals and five assists in a win Jan. 22 against Oral Roberts. He then had his eighth straight double-figure scoring game with 17 points and eight rebounds vs. Denver on Jan.24.

Tori Oehrlein, Crosby-Ironton: No Minnesota girls player has scored more career points than Oehrlein, who surpassed Rebekah Dahlman’s record of 5,060 points on Jan. 20. The future Gopher did it in spectacular fashion with a remarkable quadruple-double (57 points, 21 rebounds, 13 steals and 10 assists) vs. Mille Lacs.

Kolby Thompson, Prior Lake: The 5-11 junior scored 32 points, including 24 points in the second half and overtimes, and hit the game-winning three-pointer at the buzzer in a 99-98 triple-OT victory at Cretin-Derham Hall on Jan. 24.

Minnesotans in the NBA: Ex-CDH guard gets called up

Iowa State wouldn’t be competing for a potential NCAA Final Four and national championship without the players who built the program’s foundation.

One of those players is Cretin-Derham Hall product Curtis Jones, a former Cyclones All-American.

Jones’ NBA journey is just getting started. The 6-4 rookie guard was called up twice in January from the G League by the Denver Nuggets. One of those appearances included sinking his first NBA three-pointer and finishing with five points in nine minutes played in a Jan. 23 win at Milwaukee.

That game featured three Minnesotans: former Hopkins stars Zeke Nnaji (11 points and 12 rebounds starting for Denver) and Amir Coffey (five points for Milwaukee off the bench).

College team of the week

The Hamline women’s team is making noise in the MIAC this season with a 10-game winning streak after a victory Jan. 24 at St. Olaf.

The Pipers, who forced 58 turnovers in two games last week, had a 14-3 record through Jan. 27, including an 8-2 record in conference play. They were in a three-way tie with Concordia and Bethel for first place.

Senior Camille Cummings, a former Centennial guard, leads the team in scoring (13.9 points per game through Tuesday) for the second consecutive season.

Minnesota Top 25 update

Can anyone hold on to the top ranking in Class 4A girls basketball? Wayzata became the third No. 1 team this season after upsetting Hopkins 61-52 on Jan. 23. The Trojans beat Minnetonka 78-63 on Jan. 27.

Three weeks ago, Minnetonka was No. 1 before falling to Maple Grove on Jan. 9. The Skippers also lost to Hopkins on Jan. 20. Rosemount was lurking behind Hopkins at No. 2 in last week’s rankings but lost for the first time this season when it fell Jan. 20 against Prior Lake.

On the boys side, Goodhue replaced Belle Plaine this week as the No. 1 team in Class 2A. The Wildcats have won nine straight games.

Final thoughts ...

Buffalo’s Eli Hegle and Thomas Jordan have played as well as any sophomores this season in big games. But the highest-scoring boys tandem in the state’s Class of 2028 is Kennedy’s Judah Mitchell (brother of University of St. Thomas recruit and CDH star JoJo Mitchell) and Musunguindji Mwenentanda, who both were averaging 22 points through Jan. 27. In girls hoops, Duluth Marshall’s Chloe Johnson (28 points per game), Climax/Fisher’s Peyton Hoffman (26 ppg) and Edina’s Quinn Kemper (25 ppg) lead all sophomores. These underclassmen can get buckets.

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Basketball Across Minnesota will be published weekly on stribvarsity.com. Don’t be a stranger on X after reading, as chatting about these stories makes them even more fun to share. Thanks, Marcus (@Marcus_R_Fuller on X).