It’s difficult enough to earn an athletic scholarship for a high school athlete. It can be even tougher to earn that scholarship when you know that may be your only ticket to college.

Austin grads Gach Gach and Ajuda Nywesh may have started a trend that can help a few Austin athletes of African descent overcome the odds and get to college. Each of the AHS basketball stars were able to secure a full scholarship to an NJCAA Division two-year school and they each plans to continue their playing careers at a four-year school after they’re done with Junior College.

Nywesh, a 2014 AHS graduate, is playing college basketball at Lake Region State College in Devils Lake, North Dakota, and Gach, a 2015 AHS graduate, will play college basketball at North Dakota State College of Science in Whapeton, North Dakota, next year. Gach and Nywesh’s parents both came to America from Sudan, and it was a long journey for both of them to get where they are on the basketball court right now.

Gach and Nywesh hope they can serve as role models to a big group of young players with African descent on the Packer basketball team, including Gach’s younger brothers Both and Duoth, who will be sophomores next season.

“I just want to go big or go home. My brothers are following in my footsteps and I like it,” Gach said. “Hopefully everyone sees our family doing it and they see AJ’s family doing it, and all of the young African kids that are coming up can start learning to play basketball and have a chance. You have to stay on your grades and stay out of trouble.”

Nywesh’s dream of making it in basketball started when he was young as he recalls drawing pictures of himself playing in the NBA. Since then, he’s worked hard on and off the court. He said he has drawn interest from some Division I and Division II four-year schools.

Nywesh was a starting guard for Lake Region as a freshman and averaged 13 points per game.

He said the basketball court can be a place of refuge for those who are dealing with difficult things in their home life. Nywesh probably wouldn’t even have been able to go to college if he didn’t earn a scholarship.

“Our situation is not the same as everyone else’s,” he said. “The basketball court is our getaway and it’s a place to lock in and try and do something good for your family. If you’re on the basketball court or at the Y, there are no drugs there and you’re not going to get caught up. I had family members that weren’t good influences towards what I wanted to do. Once I stayed in the gym, there was no trouble there.”

Gach said if he wouldn’t have gotten a basketball scholarship he probably would’ve gotten a job to help pay for his school and he likely would’ve attended Riverland Community College.

When he started playing basketball in fifth grade, his parents didn’t even know what basketball was, but eventually they learned what it could do for their son. Gach made it his mission after his freshman year to get a college scholarship in basketball.

“I wanted to get out of here and have a chance to get to the next level and continue my basketball career,” Gach said. “My mom is a single parent raising seven kids on her own, that’s pretty tough. For her to have to pay for rent is pretty tough and for her to have to pay for college, that would’ve been impossible. Getting a scholarship was huge.”

Gach and Nywesh both used basketball to get them to college, but the journey may just be beginning for the former teammates, who are now going to be opponents. Lake Region went 23-8 overall last season and NDSCS went 26-7 overall. The two teams will square off two times this season and could meet a third time in the postseason.

It’s a little ironic Nywesh and Gach will play against each other, because their families actually came from rival tribes in Sudan. However, they say that had no effect on their relationship in Austin.

“We never really talked too much about it,” Nywesh said. “We were teammates [in high school] and that’s my brother till I die. I’ve never been to Africa, but I’m guessing if we were there, it would be different.”

Nywesh and Gach have spent plenty of time playing with Both and Duoth, and some of the other younger players of African descent in Austin at the YMCA. They’ve been quick to act as mentors.

Gach said he forces his younger brothers, who are shooters, to work on their post game so they can be complete players, and Nywesh has given them plenty of life lessons.

“No books. No ball. At the end of the day that’s what it is,” Nywesh said. “I’m the first generation of my family to be on track to graduate [from college], and my little brothers and sisters are looking up to me. It was somewhat of a struggle, but if I didn’t have that struggle I wouldn’t be the person I am today. I’m just truly glad that I’m playing basketball. If the [four year] schools do come around and if they offer, I’ll be glad. It’s free education. I’m always gonna keep working. I love this game.”

Gach said he’s motivated by the move his parents made from Sudan that allowed him to grow up in America.

“Our parents came to the United States to get us a better life. They just wanted us to succeed and not succeeding would let our parents down,” Gach said.