The people who played basketball at Albert Lea High School with Ben Woodside say he made them better players. And they say he’s done the hard work to get the success he and his North Dakota State team are experiencing.

“He just had this goal growing up and just put basketball as his No. 1 priority and it’s evident now it has paid off for him,” said 23-year-old Stephen Thorn.

A photograph of Woodside and Thorn hangs in Applebee’s Neighborhood Bar & Grill in Albert Lea. It is in a case display at one of the booths on the north side of the interior. Also in it are letters from NBA Commissioner David Stein, a USA Today clipping, a 2ball jersey and a special 2ball ticket to the NBA Finals at the Staples Center in Los Angeles.

The USA Today clipping is from April 24, 2000. It is titled “NBA Update” and it reads:

“The pros are not the only players in the playoffs; there are also several young hoop stars shooting for titles.” In the listing for “12-14 – Boys” are “Steve Thorn and Ben Woodside, Minnesota.”

NBA teams sponsor 2ball, a skills competition requiring two-person teams to shoot for 60 seconds from five spots on the court. Each spot has values. The team with the most points wins. Thorn and Stephen won locally, then regionally and then for all of Minnesota. They and their families attended an NBA Finals game that year.

“It was certainly one of my sporting highlights in my life,” Thorn said.

The two boys graduated from Albert Lea High School in 2004 after drawing great interest in the boys’ basketball program in a place known for its wrestling and hockey.

Woodside’s friends call him “Woody.” He was the go-to guy at the end of games, Thorn said.

Ryan Moore played as a junior when Woody was a senior.

“Woody really taught us what it meant to prepare in the off-season,” he said.

Moore said Woodside set the goals high and helped him realize that the time in high school is short. That’s why the week after the last game of a season he would be back in the gym shooting. And it is why he would urge them to shoot 10 more at the end of a practice, even during the hot summer months.

It was a year-round commitment, Moore said.

Parker Skophammer played the role of sixth man when Woodside was a senior for the Tigers. Skophammer was a sophomore.

He said Woody is doing at North Dakota State what he did in Albert Lea.

“He makes everybody better; he’s such a great leader,” Skophammer said.

Woodside was the first-ever three-time recipient of the Tribune’s Boys’ Basketball Player of the Year honor. He finished at Albert Lea High with 1,724 career points.

But he never went to state. Skophammer said the Tigers who made it to state in 2005 owe a share of their success to Woodside’s leadership in previous years.

Woodside is a senior at North Dakota State, which is in its fifth season as an NCAA Division I competitor and its first season of eligibility for the NCAA tournament. Being first-year and getting into the tourney has the sports world excited about Woodside and the Bison.

Thorn, Skophammer and Moore follow Woodside’s game and, of course, will watch the tournament selection show at 5 p.m. Sunday on CBS stations to see which team the Bison will play Thursday or Friday in the first round.

Thorn graduated last August from Creighton University in Omaha, Neb., with a degree in exercise science. He works as a nurse’s aide at Albert Lea Medical Center while he decides which part of the health-care field he wishes to enter.

Moore, 22, is a senior studying business finance at University of St. Thomas in St. Paul. Skophammer, 21, is a junior at the University of South Dakota in Vermillion.

Moore recalled a game against in Austin where the place was packed and Woodside found a way to win.

Here is how former Sports Editor Jim Lutgens described it in a 2004 story:

“Perhaps the biggest highlight this past season was the Tigers’ first meeting with Austin, in which the Tigers, desperate for a win after back-to-back losses to Winona and Mankato East, trailed 49-44 after an Austin dunk with 2:14 remaining. In less than a minute, Woodside stole the ball twice and scored six points — with two slam dunks — to put the Tigers up 52-51. He added two free throws, another basket and a rebound as the Tigers beat the stunned Packers 59-51.”

Moore said he recalls the Austin coach describing Woodside as “a man among boys out there” and Moore agrees.

Off the court, his friends say he had a confidence about him that attracted people.

Thorn said he was popular. He wasn’t cocky but approached life situations with confidence because he had the tools for academics and athletics.

Skophammer, who was on the basketball team his freshman year at USD, appreciated how Woodside would invite younger players to open gym so they could get time playing against older kids. He said he was approachable.

Even though Woodside can slash to the basket, he said he was selfless player, too. He drew the attention of defenses, which helped other players get open.

“He was probably the best leader I had the pleasure of playing with,” Skophammer said.

Moore, who traveled to Fargo this season to see a handful of Bison games, said Woodside enjoys going to Twins games in the summer. He said he likes to hang out with friends and “doesn’t need a lot of glitz and glamor.”

He said Woodside works out at NDSU five or six days a week.

“Basketball has truly become his life up there, but I think he truly enjoys it,” Moore said.

With all this attention, will Woodside play professionally?

Moore said whether it is in the NBA or overseas, there probably is a paid spot for him on a team of some sort. He’s learned never to underestimate Ben Woodside.

“I’d be one of the last people outside of his family to ever doubt him in his goals,” Moore said.

After North Dakota State’s big win Tuesday against Oakland for the Summit League title and a ticket to the Big Dance, NDSU coach Saul Phillips said: “I’ve been working on my offense for a while. It’s called ‘get the ball to Woodside and get out of the way.’ It’s been effective.”

Thorn said many of the former Tiger players have been following the coverage and chuckled when they read that.

“We all got a laugh out of that because we had the same offense: Get the ball to Woody,” Thorn said.