HORACE — The West Fargo Horace boys basketball team now has its first-ever NCAA Division I product.
Six-foot-three guard Carter Evanson announced his commitment to the University of North Dakota men’s basketball program over the weekend as part of the 2026 recruiting class.
“I almost kind of committed on the spot, that’s how good I felt there,” Evanson told The Forum Monday. “But I didn’t want to commit on an emotion trip, so I waited a couple of weeks and then gave (head coach Paul Sather) a call and told him I wanted to be a (Fighting) Hawk.”
West Fargo Horace’s Carter Evanson dribbles against Grand Forks Red River’s Cameron Klefstad during the East Region Boys Basketball Semifinals on Thursday, March 6, 2025, in the Scheels Center at the Sanford Health Athletic Complex in Fargo.
Alyssa Goelzer / The Forum
Evanson put together a first team all-state campaign as a junior this past season, leading Horace with 25.2 points, 4.9 assists and 3.4 steals per game.
Those numbers also ranked No. 2 in Division AA in scoring average, No. 2 in steals per game and tied for No. 5 in assists per game.
The two-time all-conference pick also helped Horace to its best season to date in its brief history. The Hawks finished 18-6 overall in 2024-25, including 13-3 in the Eastern Dakota Conference for a runner-up finish in the regular season standings.
Evanson said he fielded collegiate offers from UND and North Dakota State, as well as Division II Jamestown, UMary and Minot State.
It was a priority, Evanson said, to stay relatively close to home, while being far enough away to get the true college experience.
“I wanted to go far enough to where I’m (away from home) a little bit, but also close enough where I can watch my little brother grow up. He’s 12 years old, so he’s in the middle of middle school right now. But I want to watch him grow up as a high school kid and watch his high school career, because he’s going to be great.”
UND finished 12-21 overall last season with a 5-11 mark in the Summit League. Sather will enter his seventh season as head coach of the program in 2025-26.
“I’ve heard nothing but great things from Coach Sather and UND,” Evanson said. “I know four 2025s that committed and love (Sather), love the program and everything like that.”
Evanson said he even had a conversation with Bismarck native and former Fighting Hawks standout Treysen Eaglestaff, who averaged 28.1 points per game in his three seasons with the program before transferring to Big 12 school West Virginia in the offseason.
“I’ve talked to (Eaglestaff) about UND and he said it’s an awesome place to go to,” Evanson said. “He loves Coach Sather, loves the program and the culture. There’s a few guys there now who also love Coach Sather and the program and have said nothing but great things about it.”
What stuck out the most on Evanson’s visit was the presence of the coaching staff and the feeling of being wanted by the program.
“My relationship with the coaches, it was awesome,” Evanson said. “They were all good guys and they were all there on the visit. Every single coach was there, that was pretty cool. They didn’t just want me as a player, they want me as a person and to build me up from there.”
Fargo South’s Mikey Hamilton and West Fargo Horace’s Carter Evanson leap for the ball on Tuesday, Jan. 28, 2025, at Horace High School.
David Samson / The Forum
Although still undecided, Evanson said he’s looking into studying exercise science when he gets to campus for the 2025-26 school year.
In the meantime, he’s got some unfinished business with his high school Hawks, who came one game shy of qualifying for the Division AA state tournament for the first time.
“I’m so ready for next season,” Evanson said. “We have a great squad. We lost one (starter), Brady (Westphal), but he was a big part of our team. He was really good for us and he’s up at (Minnesota) Crookston now.
“We might even be better than last year. Everyone has been in the gym right now in the summer. Everyone is getting better and better. It’s been awesome. We’ve been having a lot of open gyms and workouts started (Monday) and everyone looks good, so I’m pumped.”
West Fargo Horace’s Carter Evanson goes up for a basket against Fargo South on Tuesday, Jan. 28, 2025, at Horace High School.
David Samson / The Forum
Evanson is the second basketball player from Horace to hit the D-I ranks behind Jaiden Haile, who will head to Gonzaga this fall after
helping the Hawks girls to the Division AA state championship
in March.
He said it’s an honor to be the first boys player from Horace to go D-I, but knows he won’t be the last.
“It’s cool to lay the foundation down there,” Evanson said. “But I think the classes below me, and so on and so forth, are going to be great players. I know there will definitely be a few Division I players coming up pretty soon.
“It’s pretty cool to just lay the foundation.”
Ryan Spitza joined The Forum in December 2021 as a sports reporter. He grew up in Marquette, Mich., a city of 20,000 on the southern shore of Lake Superior. He majored in multimedia journalism and minored in public relations at Northern Michigan University, graduating with a Bachelor of Science in May 2019. While attending college, Spitza gained real-world experience covering high school and college athletics for both The Mining Journal and The North Wind.
Spitza can be reached at 701-451-5613 or rspitza@forumcomm.com. Follow him on Twitter @ryspitza.