Saceda-Hurt signs to play basketball at Iowa’s Luther College

Juneau-Douglas High School: Yadaa.at Kalé senior Pedrin Saceda-Hurt likes the mountains and waters around Alaska’s capital city, but will pursue his dream of playing college basketball at a school surrounded by rolling hills and cornfields.

“It really spoke to me,” Saceda-Hurt said Wednesday after signing to play for Luther College in Decorah, Iowa. “I thought the campus was really beautiful, and I just really liked how the facility was.”

The school is an undergraduate liberal arts college affiliated with the Lutheran Church. Athletically, it is a member of the National Collegiate Athletic Association Division III (NCAA III), and the Norse play in the nine-team American Rivers Conference.

“The coach really took the time to speak with me individually and spend time with me,” Saceda-Hurt said. “He took time to help me with basketball, too. I got some gym time with him and he just helped me there, so it really just spoke to me honestly.”

Surrounded by family, friends and teammates — and with a photo of his grandfather beside him in the JDHS commons — Saceda-Hurt signed his name on his dream.

“That is my father Nick Saceda,” Pedrin’s mother Nickie Saceda-Hurt said of the photo. “He passed away in 2011. He was a basketball player in the Philippines and he coached Philcom here in the ‘80s. Pedrin was only four when he passed so he never got to watch him play, but we know he’s watching from above.”

Pedrin Saceda-Hurt visited Luther College in January on a recruiting trip. Luther College head coach Mark Franzen included Pedrin in some gym time with his DIII athletes.

Saceda-Hurt said the first thing he thought of after playing with them was, “It was insane. I felt like I was not conditioned at all. Like, it was mid-season, too, and I just did not feel conditioned, honestly it was really weird because I usually think I’m more conditioned during the season, but it was something else. It is insane how conditioned they are. It’s really something that I need to work for. I can’t take it for granted and just sit on my butt all summer…The coach said that with my size I would have to be the point guard and handle the ball a lot. So working on that and just being physically stronger and mentally tough for the next level is going to be my challenge…They are really defensive-oriented and lead their division in defensive stops so I will definitely have to work on that.”

Saceda-Hurt plans to pursue a major in kinesiology.

“I feel like all athletes are kind of drawn towards the study of the body,” he said. “But ever since high school I’ve kind of just always been interested in science so learning about the body was just something I was always interested in.”

While Pedrin Saceda-Hurt hasn’t suited up for the Norse yet, he is assured of having at least one college rival who will be on an opposing bench, sister Maxie Saceda-Hurt, a 2018 graduate of now-defunct Thunder Mountain High School who is an athletic trainer for the red-and-gold clad Simpson College Storm in Indianola, Iowa.

“It helps that my sister has studied kinesiology,” Pedrin Saceda-Hurt said. “She studied it and said it is a lot of hard work and jokingly said not to do it, but I’m not going to listen to her (laughs). I’m her brother, she’ll help.”

Maxie Saceda-Hurt played softball for the Storm while majoring in health and exercise science, with minors in psychology and biology. She then attended the University of Northern Iowa to finish graduate school, earning a master of athletic training and rehabilitation degree and is currently an athletic trainer for Athletico, with outreach to Simpson. The Storm compete in the same conference as the Norse.

“It is funny both Juneau kids are now in the rolling hills and cornfields,” Maxie Saceda-Hurt said. “Pedrin has always been a science and math kid, like me, and when he first sparked interest in sports medicine I was most excited about being his older sister, helping him pave his career and interests as I missed out on a lot of his high school career. He will do nothing but excel in what he chooses to do…As my alma mater is Simpson College (Roll Storm) I will forever and always cheer for whatever jersey says ‘Saceda-Hurt’ (bonus points that it’s blue and white). More or less you can say I am very excited to have my brother in the Midwest with me and cannot wait to see how he flourishes out here.”

Pedrin Saceda-Hurt started playing basketball in fourth grade.

“I started playing during recess because a friend played all the time and showed me what it was,” he said. “It was just something else after that, like I just had so much fun with it the first time that I just kept playing.”

He played Hooptime and then on Floyd Dryden’s B team.

“That was really fun,” he said. “I got to play in the Icebreaker Tournament against DZ and Ketchikan and Sitka… Eighth grade was COVID year so I spent that year social-distancing in the gym.”

Pedrin Saceda-Hurt played his first three high school seasons at Thunder Mountain High School and as a junior was part of the Region V Falcons championship team that played in the Alaska School Activities Association state championship game.

“That was really something that year,” Saceda-Hurt said. “I just enjoyed it. Even though I didn’t really play much it was just such an honor to be on that team and just get that experience.”

Then-TMHS coach John Blasco said. “Pedrin is a top-notch kid. He’s got that character that every coach dreams to have on their team. The amount of work he puts in. If we didn’t have the senior class ahead of him that we had, he would have played a ton more for us and in the moments that he did get to play for us, he took full advantage of. And he’s one of those kids that just every coach wants to have. And I’m excited that Luther College is going to be able to get him. They’re picking up a good asset.”

Last season Saceda-Hurt was key in the merging of the TMHS Falcons with the JDHS Crimson Bears.

“It was definitely a challenge, but it was pretty fun,” he said. “I got to enjoy and meet new people, and play with different teammates and coaches, and learn different play styles. I think that will help me most transition to college because I already have had that experience of trying to change play styles from one season to the next.”

As a senior the Region V conference all-star averaged just over 10 points, over three rebounds, two assists and one steal per 23 minutes and was a top defender in the league. He shot over 31% from past the arc, over 38% inside it and over 63% from the free throw line. He was also selected to the 2025 Alaska Association of Basketball Coaches All-Star Game.

“Pedron is the kind of kid that you enjoy having in your program,” JDHS coach Robert Casperson said. “I know he’s going to go there and do everything that the coach asks. He’s going to stay on top of his grades, you know, he maintained a 4.0 all through this season and I would imagine he brought that here with him from previous years. I think that as a player he’s dedicated. He’s a really good shooter. He’s worked on expanding his game this year with being able to drive to the rim and be more than just a stand-and-shoot kid. But more than anything that coach is going to get a kid who will add to their program just through his personality and the way he interacts with people is so respectful. He is the kind of kid you need to have in a program.”

Mother Nickie Saceda-Hurt said, “Pedrin has put in a lot of work. He had said a couple years ago, ‘Mom and Dad, I want to play basketball in college.’ And that’s when his dad and I knew that we needed to do some work as Pedrin’s parents to get him where he wanted to be and so it was a lot of camps, it was a lot of finances trying to get him to showcases out of state and he had a basketball recruiting profile, and that put him into contact with Luther College.”

Father Frank Hurt said, “Pedrin has worked super hard his entire basketball career to get to this point, and everything he’s done off-court and in his striving has come to fruition, and I’m just immensely proud of him for that.”

Pedrin Saceda-Hurt privately thanked his family, teachers and coaches for nurturing his passions.

“And I will miss the landscape,” he said. “When I visited Iowa, it was so flat and it’s definitely way different than Alaska. I can already tell I will get homesick when I leave…and I am going to miss all my teammates and coaches and everybody…it will be hard, but I think I will adjust.”

• Contact Klas Stolpe at klas.stolpe@juneauempire.com.