No matter how talented a basketball team is, it’s likely to have some off nights if it doesn’t have a quality point guard running the show. Luckily for the Packers, they have a point guard who’s been around the game of basketball his entire life.

From his days of watching his mom’s Riverland Community College basketball teams, to the time he was brought up to the Austin varsity team as a freshman, Austin senior Tate Hebrink has seen it all. This season, he’s proven he can score and distribute with the best of them as he’s led the Packers to a 25-2 overall record and another Section 1AAA title game  against Northfield at 7 p.m. in Mayo Civic Auditorium Friday.

Austin’s go-to scorer Duoth Gach said he’s seen his friend Hebrink develop into a big-time leader this season.

“We hang out almost every day,” Gach said of Hebrink. “He’s a good leader and he’s always getting everybody to get better in practice.”

Austin senior Moses Issa has taken his game to new heights this season and a lot of his scores, including the two-handed jam Issa had against Kasson-Mantorville, have come on the distributing end from Hebrink.

“He’s a high IQ point guard and he’s very valuable to our team,” Issa said.

Hebrink, who sharpened his leadership skills by playing quarterback on the Packer football team over the past two seasons, said that playing with big-time scorers like Issa and Gach on the hardwood have made this season a blast.

“It’s awesome. It makes it a lot easier to me because they can all make shots. Medi [Obang], Moses and Duoth can all really stroke it,” Hebrink said. “I just have to find the guy with the hot hand. There have been some games where they haven’t been able to find their shots and those are the games I’ve had to step up.”

Hebrink has had plenty of big moments this season. He led the charge in an early win over Totino-Grace, he had big second half scoring surges in the overtime win at Owatonna, the home win against Northfield and the road loss to Rochester John Marshall, and he had the game-winning tip in against Minnehaha Academy.

While Hebrink’s proven he can knock down big shots, it’s been his ball control that has impressed Austin head coach Kris Fadness the most. Hebrink is averaging 10 points and five assists per game, but he’s maintained an assist-to-turnover ratio of 3.2

“Tate’s just smart and he knows what we’re trying to do,” Fadness said. “He’s what a point guard is supposed to be. You don’t win in this game with a me-first point guard. I’m really proud of him with his growth and this year he’s just taken it to a different level.”

Besides improving his game in all aspects, Hebrink has also grown into a more assertive leader this season. It’s helped that he’s grown closer to Gach on and off the court.

“These last few years [Duoth and I] started hanging around more and we’re like brothers, on and off the court,” Hebrink said. “I’ve had to be more of a leader [this year] and I have to run the offense. I like playing the one a lot more and that’s what I played when I was younger. This season means a lot to. I grew up here and hopefully we can win a state championship.”