A tough opponent and poor shooting by the Jaguars led to a 70-57 loss to Shawnee Mission South in the state semifinals on Friday, March 8.

South scored the first points of the game with a three-point basket, and the Jaguars struggled against the Raider’s press defense early in the game. South managed to score several more three-point shots and led 21-8 at the end of the first quarter.

The Jaguars continued to struggle in the second quarter, down 35-23 by halftime.

“I can’t remember one time we turned it over against their press defense, which was the main goal,” senior forward Nathan Stacy said.

At the start of the third quarter, only sophomore forward Patrick Muldoon was playing without fouls, who picked up his first early in the quarter. By the end of the quarter, junior guard Wyatt Voorhes, senior guard Kyle Kain and Stacy were all playing with three fouls. Mill Valley had a total of eight team fouls, while South had just three team fouls at the time. South led 51-33 at the end of the quarter.

Mill Valley struggled to make three-point shots throughout the game; Koch made the team’s only three-point shot in the third quarter.

“We just needed some more shots to fall, and for theirs not to fall,” Stacy said. “It didn’t change how we played the game, it changed the outcome of the game. If we would have hit our shots, it would have been a close game down to the wire.”

In the fourth quarter, Stacy scored 11 straight points in an attempt to change the outcome.

“It looked like we were going to lose and I didn’t want to lose, so I started doing anything I could to win,” Stacy said.

The team will play for third place on Saturday, March 9 at 2 p.m.against either Lansing or Kapaun-Mt. Carmel, and Kain is hopeful for the team’s success.

“I don’t think we’re going to change anything,” Kain said. “I just think we’re going to play our game.”