The boys varsity basketball team defeated Blue Valley North in the substate championship game today with a final score of 51-46. The team will go on to compete for the State championship in Wichita next week.

BVNW stayed on top the whole game in front of full student sections from each side. With this being the third time the team has played BVN this season, head coach Ed Fritz said they went into the game knowing what to expect.

“All three games have been really close, so we knew it was going to come down to a play or two, so that was really important,” Fritz said. “We just need to stick together.”

By the end of the first half, BVNW led BVN 20-13.

Toward the beginning of the third quarter, BVNW led BVN by as much as 10 points. By the end, BVN began to close the gap, eventually getting within one point of BVNW.

Fritz said the team came back to life after sophomore Joe Pleasant dunked twice in the second half. Pleasant said he was looking throughout the game for the right opportunity.

“I just told myself to dunk everything, if they get in my way, just get a foul,” Pleasant said. “I just jumped up and realized I was at the rim and I put it in.”

Pleasant said the team went into the game with extra pressure due to the rivalry with BVN, but he said they went about it like any other game.

“It’s a big rivalry game, let alone it’s a substate game,” Pleasant said. “We were just coming in playing our style basketball.”

After tonight’s win, Fritz said the team is looking forward to taking on new teams in Wichita.

“I’m looking forward to playing someone down at state that we haven’t played before, so that’s going to be good,” Fritz said. “We’ve been to the State tournament six of the last seven years now…so we’ve got some tradition going, so I hope we can carry over on that.”