As the clock counted down in the fourth quarter of the 6A Sub-state championship game between Blue Valley Northwest and a visiting Shawnee Mission East team, the two student sections grew even rowdier; tossing good natured chants back and fourth as the realization that the Huskies would be advancing to state yet again hit. With three minutes left in the game, head coach Ed Fritz vacated his starting five from the floor and sent in his bench in to close out the game. BVNW fan’s in the gym erupted into cheers as the buzzer sounded and the Huskies added their 21st W to their record, defeating the Lancers 63-49.

This is the Huskies fifth straight sub-state championship, and according to Ed Fritz, that is a pretty good accomplishment.

“It doesn’t happen very often,” Ed Fritz said. “It takes a lot of good players to do that and a lot of good coaches. That really helps.”

According to senior David Salach, being a part of the legacy is nice. While it is sad that this was the last game he and his senior teammates will play at BVNW, Salach said he has created a lot of good memories playing before the Pound.

“I love them,” Salach said. “They’re my brothers. I wouldn’t want anybody else to play with me. I hope they feel the same about me. Even the kids I haven’t played with for years, they’re awesome and hopefully all of us will stay friends in the long run.”

Senior Clayton Custer agrees with Salach, and said despite the uplifted the mood on making it to state, the thought of never playing in the BVNW gym again is not a good one.

“It’s sad,” Custer said. “It hasn’t really hit me yet at all. I feel like I’ll have another game here next week, but I won’t.”

Despite the Huskies finishing with a 15 point lead, the Lancers had jumped out to an early 7-0 run at the beginning of the game. SME’s student section seemed to fuel the fire as the Lancer’s hit a few threes and made a layup off an offensive rebound. However, senior David Salach was not having it. Halfway through the quarter Salach tied the score single-handedly with two jump shots and a couple smooth drives to the hole.

“We weren’t hitting outside shots,” Salach said. “I knew we had to get to the basket so I just hit a couple shots and just kept going. I had a pretty good night.”

This seemed to jump start the Huskies as senior Vince Fritz celebrated a key and one play and senior Ben Richardson stole the ball for a transitional layup at the buzzer with four Lancers on his tail. The Huskies concluded the quarter in the lead, 13-9.

The Huskies hardly took any outside shots during the second quarter as the Lancer defense extended to over cover around the arc. BVNW generated it’s offense from drives to the basket and dishing into Salach who added another pair of buckets. The Husky defense only allowed the Lancers to score five points in the second quarter, one three and an offensive board. The Huskies ended in the half in the lead, 24-16.

“Usually we are more outside game based,” Salach said. “Usually I’m playing inside although when I get to college I’ll be playing outside. My position on this team is inside and I enjoy doing that. It’s pretty fun, it’s another aspect of the game that I hope to build on. But we’re usually more of an outside game kind of team but today we got to the rim so that was nice.”

SME came out with a strong opening and one play, but Fritz answered with a long trey. What followed was a flurry of points from both teams, the student sections cat calls getting louder with each shot. Salach continued to dominate in the paint, contributing a strong one handed dunk off of a rebound that sent the Pound into pandemonium. At the end of the quarter, SME had cut the Huskies lead to eight with a score of 38-30.

“We did just enough to get it done,” senior Clayton Custer said. “We didn’t play real great, but we made enough shots and made our free throws down the stretch.”

According to Salach; Custer, Fritz and Richardson were able to drive to the hole at will during the fourth quarter. This appeared to be the truth as all three contributed multiple layups to the scoreboard. Custer in particular seemed to have a knack for drawing fouls and finishing key free throws down the stretch. With about five minutes to go in the game, the Huskies tried to slow their offense down and succeeded in weening two minutes off the clock in a single possession, ending on an easy bucket by Richardson. In an effort to gain extra possessions, the Lancers started fouling excessively, but to no avail as the Huskies sank the majority of their free throws. The Husky defense stayed solid throughout the quarter, allowing only minimum buckets and possessions before closing out the game with a final score of 63-49.

“SME is a good team,” Ed Fritz said. “They played well. They had a great game plan against us. We didn’t shoot the ball particularly well but we did a good job of grinding the game out and working. I’m proud of us.”

According to Custer, the Huskies’s outside shots were not falling today and that crippled them a little bit although they made up for it in drives.

“I think we kind of just grinded this one out,” Custer said. “We didn’t shoot the ball well, we played good defense in the first half but not really in the second half. We played together tonight, we stuck together and when we do that it’s hard for somebody to beat us.”

In order to succeed in the state tournament, Custer said the team needs to get in the gym and get up shots so they can be shooting on all cylinders in Wichita.

“It feels good to win sub-state,” Custer said. “But if we don’t win down in Wichita, it’ll be a little disappointing so we need to get ready and get healthy and go win a state championship.

Salach agrees with Custer, and believes that the Huskies experience down at Koch arena in past years will help them this year.

“We know what it feels like to play in the state tournament,” Salach said. “Some players might get out there and be a little overwhelmed with what it feels like so I think that’s a big advantage for us to be returning for our fourth year.”