Father-son duo leading Veritas boys basketball to strong start

photo by: Contributed photo

Head coach Carl Huslig (left) and senior Trey Huslig (right) have lead the Veritas boys basketball team to an 8-3 start before winter break.

Veritas head coach Carl Huslig, who is in his fifth season at the helm, has some fond memories of when Trey Huslig’s basketball career began. But it is from well before he ever put on a jersey for the Eagles.

When Trey Huslig was 4-years-old, the two of them would square off in a one-on-one game in the basement with a pair of basketball goals on each end of the room. From that moment, basketball has been Trey Huslig’s greatest passion.

Trey Huslig played other sports, such as football and baseball, but he never enjoyed it as much as he did when he was playing hoops. He’s now a senior guard for the Eagles, who are off to an 8-3 start before winter break in his final year on the hardwood with his dad.

“You want to cherish every moment,” Trey Huslig said. “You want to make sure you get the best out of every moment.”

However, Carl Huslig isn’t ready to think about their last game together, which is undoubtedly going to come in the next few months.

The father/son combination has accomplished a number of feats together. At the high school level, the two of them have been on the same team for five years. When Trey Huslig was an eighth-grader, he played on the varsity team and Veritas netted third at the state tournament, marking the program’s highest finish at the time.

“People were a lot faster, and a lot stronger,” Trey Huslig recalled. “I had to rely on my shooting, but it helped me.”

One year later, the Huslig duo led the Eagles to a runner-up finish after going to the wire with Sunrise Christian Academy, which had stormed over nearly every other opponent that year. It was then that Carl Huslig knew they had something special brewing at Veritas.

“(Trey Huslig) was just going over a (6-foot-8) kid and shooting over him,” Carl Huslig said. “As a dad, and as a coach, you have your thoughts of your kids. But when other coaches are coming up and saying you have something special, I think that’s cool.”

Veritas has since won back-to-back state titles in the last two years.

In 2017, the Eagles were a fifth seed and they got on a roll during the state tournament. Veritas won all three games by an average of 25 points. In 2018, Trey Huslig averaged 20 points per outing in the three contests of the state tournament to capture another title.

“He’s like a coach on the floor,” Carl Huslig said. “He’s always been a great shooter, but he’s developed into a complete player in the last several years. He’s not only our shooter, he’s our team leader.”

This season, Trey Huslig is second on the team in scoring with an average of 16 points per game. Huslig has knocked down 24-of-81 shots from beyond the arc. He is also tied for the team lead in assists with 29.

Veritas, which has just 30 kids in its high school, competed in a Shawnee Mission East tournament earlier this season. The Eagles dropped two of their three games in the event, though they showed plenty of potential against larger schools. Veritas even led Shawnee Mission East at halftime.

After the tournament, Trey Huslig was named to the all-tournament team by the opposing coaches. The performance proved that the Eagles will not be an easy out again come the postseason.

“It was fun to play that type of competition and actually compete to show that we belong there,” Trey Huslig said.

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