Photo illustration by Travis Rosenau New Ulm’s Colton Benson was named the 2023-24 All-Journal Boys Basketball Player of the Year on Saturday. It was the senior’s second consecutive All-Journal Boys Basketball Player of the Year award as he ended his prep career with 2,207 points.

NEW ULM — Colton Benson has undoubtedly left his mark on New Ulm basketball.

In his four seasons starting for the Eagles, Benson scored 2,207 points, most by any boys basketball player in the City of New Ulm, and made 318 3-pointers, an unofficial record for New Ulm High School. Benson is a three-time All-Conference Player, two-time KNUJ Boys Basketball Player of the Year, and was a Minnesota Basketball Coaches Association All-Star and Minnesota Mr. Basketball watch list player this last season.

Benson will be adding another award to his list of accomplishments as he has been unanimously named the All-Journal Boys Basketball Player of the Year for the second consecutive season as voted on by The Journal’s sports staff.

“It’s the reward for all the hard work and dedication I’ve put into this game,” Benson said. “The early mornings, the late nights, the long summers in the gym putting shots up. It just shows what hard work I’ve done, it’s just a representation of my hard work.”

Benson led New Ulm to a Section 2AAA runner-up finish this season, averaging 27.5 points, 6.7 rebounds, 2.7 assists, 1.7 blocks/deflections and 1 steal per game. Benson also shot 42.7% from the floor and 38.2% from 3, making 118 shots from behind the arc, also an unofficial school record.

During the year, Benson slowly climbed the career points leaderboard, surpassing the NUHS boys basketball career points record, then the 2,000-point threshold, and finally passing Minnesota Valley Lutheran’s Galen Holzhueter to become the city’s all-time boys basketball leading scorer.

“It was almost like an eerie feeling,” Benson said. “It was a strange feeling because some of these guys I’ve never even heard these names, and some of the guys I grew up watching. These used to be the guys that I was like, ‘I want to be like him, I want to do that.’ And now I’m passing them and taking the next step over them. So it’s kind of a strange feeling, I’d say.”

Benson’s time at New Ulm started his freshman year, where he started his first-ever game on varsity, a memory Benson will never forget.

“We were sitting in the locker room before my first-ever high school basketball game at New Ulm Public High School,” Benson said. “Coach Dennis was reading off the starting lineup for that night, and at that time I was a little freshman on varsity, pooping my pants. And he named me a starter as my first-ever game as a New Ulm Eagle in high School, and I’ll never forget that moment, that’s one of my fondest moments.

Other moments from his career Benson will remember will be the time spent with his teammates.

“Obviously breaking the records and stuff, that’s all great, but I definitely say the time I’ve spent with my best friends growing up, doing the sport I love, that I’ll never forget,” he said. “The bus rides, the meals, even celebrating my accomplishments with my teammates and my coaching staff, those are the things I’ll take with me for a lifetime, not so much the points, the big-game shots, but the relationships I’ve built along the way.”

Basketball has been a big part of Benson’s time at high school as he has worked his way up from freshman to senior, and the sport has taught him a lot more than just basketball skills.

“Everybody talks about how high school athletics are important,” Benson said. “And not just the athletics part, but the skills you build along the way. The relationships you build, the teamwork skills you’re going to build, the communication skills you’re going to build. And I feel like my time here at New Ulm has more than helped me with those life-long skills you can get from playing sports. I think coach Dennis and my teammates have excelled at making me a better person and a better player in my time here.”

But ultimately the reason that Benson plays basketball is for one simple reason.

“The simple answer would be because basketball’s a lot of fun,” he said. “I really enjoy the challenge, I enjoy the hard work. The saying is, ‘The guy who likes to walk walks farther than the guy who likes the destination.’ That’s the kind of stuff I look for, I try to find the good stuff in the hard work, the beauty in the hard work and the beauty in the struggle. That’s what keeps me going. Basketball is a really fun sport, and that’s about as simple as it gets, but it’s true.”

Benson will take the next step next year, playing for a DII basketball program in Minnesota State University, Mankato.

“It was not a hard decision at all,” Benson said. “MSU is everything I want and what I was looking for in a school. It’s not that far from home, it’s a nice city. But besides the basketball, it’s a great school, great education. And with the basketball, right now they’re playing for a National Championship. It’s a great school, great team, I really love the coaching staff, I really like what they’ve done over there. They guys are great, wonderful facilities, it was not a hard choice at all.”

Benson doesn’t know what his role will look like in his first year, but he wants to maintain the standard he set in his time at New Ulm High School.

“Still keeping the lofty goals,” he said. “I’m going to have some big shoes to fill next year, and my goal is to fill them as best I can. I’m going to try to help them win, and that’s probably not going to mean I’m coming off the bench and putting up 20 a game, but if I have to fill water bottles for a year, that’s what I’m going to do.

“I’m going to help them win in whatever way I can … I’m not getting redshirted, so that’s a bonus. I couldn’t tell you what my role’s going to be. The only person who knows what my role is going to be is God. I think my coaching staff is focused on the season they’re having right now, but I’m willing to accept whatever role I’m given … I want to win.”

For future generations of New Ulm basketball players, they will see Benson’s name on top of a lot of record lists. Benson hopes that his play can inspire future generations to push themselves, just as the previous generations inspired him to push himself.

“I wouldn’t say me by myself, but I know that my class has really set a standard for New Ulm basketball,” Benson said. “I know when I got here, the bar was low … I say this as humbly as possible, but I think we really turned around New Ulm basketball. For me personally, I want kids to be in the same shoes I was. I looked at those names, I remember Connor Foley reaching all the way, these big names at the top of the scoring, all this stuff. And I remember looking at that and thinking ‘I want that.’

“And I want kids, these seventh-, eighth-graders to look up at me and say, ‘That’s what I want. I want to be the next Colton Benson, I want to break his records.’ That’s the kind of tone I want to set of guys who are coming in and are willing to work and having these lofty goals. Because we had lofty goals, and we might have fallen short, but we went for the moon and we landed in the clouds. I just hope to inspire the younger generation like these older guys did for me.”