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By Photo by Lindsay Roush

Senior Evan Kopatich is hugged by his father after the win over Aquinas.

The Jaguars clinched the substate championship after defeating the St. Thomas Aquinas Saints 41-39 on Saturday, March 7. It will be the team’s second trip to the state tournament in three years.

The Saints led the Jaguars 10-2 in the beginning of the first quarter, and according to junior forward Clayton Holmberg, the team maintained its persistence, ending the quarter tied 10-10.

“Putting in all this work [to beat] such a good opponent feels great,” Holmberg said. “I think we came out to a slow start, but we fought back and we played the best game we’ve played all year.”

At halftime, the team led Aquinas 22-20, followed by a third quarter score of 33-29. Junior guard Logan Koch attributed this to the team’s intensity on defense.

“Anytime you hold a team from [scoring] points, you’re bound to win. It’s hard to score on us, so we played great [defense],” Koch said. “[We just need to work on] free throws. If we would’ve made those free throws at the end, it wouldn’t have been so close.”

With 35 seconds remaining in the game, the score was tied 39-39, until Koch made a two-point field goal with seven seconds left to secure the team’s win.

“It was great [to make the game-winning shot]. We work on those everyday and we’re going to state, so it feels great,” Koch said. “After a win like this, you feel like you can win every game.”

After starting out 0-4 in the beginning of the season, Holmberg could only describe his feelings after winning the substate championship as, “crazy.”

“We’ve put in so much work,” Holmberg said. “Since November we’ve been going to open gyms, and even last year we’ve been working to get to this moment; it feels incredible.”

The Jaguars finished the regular season 15-8. Aquinas ended the season 13-10.

The team will play Maize South on Thursday, March 12 at 3 p.m. at the Topeka Expocentre.