Twin connection on the court: Valentine twins to compete at state basketball tournament

VALENTINE, Neb. — Fans who make the trip to the Nebraska Boys State Basketball Championship might have to look twice at Valentine’s starting lineup.

Identical twins Dominic and Trystan Beebout wear different jersey numbers, 3 and 4, but share much more than that. The two are key starters for a Badgers team headed to the state tournament for the first time in 22 years.

“This hasn’t been done in a long time. It’s been a goal to make it back to State,” Trystan said.

“I went in with all confidence. It was pretty surreal,” Dominic said.

Basketball has been part of their lives for as long as they can remember. The twins say they first picked up a ball around the time they could walk.

“From a pretty young age in our driveway to our Dad’s practices to basically everywhere,” Trystan said.

Over the years, that’s meant hundreds of hours together, practicing, competing and constantly pushing one another.

“We’ve always had competition between the two of us,” Dominic said.

All that time together — and, well, the same DNA — has created a connection on the court that’s hard to replicate.

“He’s (Trystan) someone I can always rely on. I know him basically better than anybody, and playing together for so long, we know each other’s tendencies,” Dominic said.

“We live together. We do everything together, so we know more about what each other is going to do and what we want from each other,” Trystan said.

That chemistry has shown up in the record books. During the district championship, Trystan broke his own single-game assist record. Dominic recently set Valentine’s single-game three-point record.

“Since Freshman year, it’s been a goal of mine to get the assist record in a game. Now I have the single season and the game one. I realize that if I’m not scoring a lot, I can help people in other ways. I can get people open shots,” Trystan said.

“We both try to push each other to be the best version of themselves to help the team in their role,” Dominic said.

“We’re pretty close. Sometimes it seems like we’re against each other and at each other’s throats, but it’s because we want the best out of each other,” Trystan said.

For the Beebouts, winning a district championship and earning a trip to state has been a shared goal for years. When they punched their ticket, the gym was packed with fans and family, including their two younger brothers.

“We play basketball all the time. They always say that you don’t get better by playing people worse than you,” younger brother Spencer said. “Yeah, I take on Dominic and Trystan sometimes.”

“They’ve been playing basketball against each other forever, so they’ve been getting better too. I hope I can be like one of them when I grow up,” Banks said.

Now, the twins will take that built-in chemistry and competition to the state stage.

“Winning games down at State is the ultimate goal,” Dominic said.