TOPEKA — Mill Valley didn’t exactly have a monkey on its back heading into Thursday’s matchup with Andover at the Topeka Expocentre. Still, the Jaguars were 0-for-state, having lost in their only other appearance.

So the Mill Valley fans and players could be forgiven if they felt a sense of relief after downing the Trojans 56-46 in the Class 5A quarterfinals.

The Jaguars got rolling in the first half and took a 29-21 into the locker room at halftime. But Andover came out smoking in the third quarter, running off the first nine points of the half.

That run prompted a timeout from Mill Valley coach Justin Bogart, who delivered a pointed message.

“It told them to get tougher on defense,” he said. “Our defensive intensity wasn’t as good as it was in the first half.”

The talk seemed to do the trick as the Jaguars outscored the Trojans 13-4 over the rest of the quarter to lead 42-34, highlighted by six points from sophomore Patrick Muldoon.

Ahead 47-40 with two minutes to play, Mill Valley sealed the victory at the free throw line. They were nine-of-12 over that stretch with 5-11 freshman point guard Logan Koch hitting six of his eight

“He’s a freshman in class only,” Bogart said. “He is savvy way beyond his year in school.”

Koch led the Jaguars in scoring with 16 points. Bishop Miege transfer Wyatt Voorhes added 14, Muldoon 13 and senior Nathan Stacy 10.

Junior Adam DeKonig led Andover with 13 points. Senior Dallas Bruner added 11.

The Jaguars (19-3) play Shawnee Mission South in Friday’s semifinals at 4:45 p.m.

SM South 82, Salina South 38

Shawnee Mission South used a variety of pressing defenses and out-of-this-world second-half shooting to rout Salina South in Thursday’s first quarterfinal, setting a record in the process.

The 23-0 Raiders led 31-18 at the intermission and then poured in the first 17 points in the third quarter to remove any lingering doubts about the outcome while forcing 19 turnovers by the Cougars.

“We knew we wanted to speed them up,” SM South coach Brett McFall said. “We did a better job of that in the second half.”

The Raiders were white hot from the floor after halftime, hitting 19-of-22 shots.

“Our quickness and shooting ability really showed in the second half,” McFall said.

The 44-point victory margin was the largest ever in a 5A state tournament game.

Eleven of the 12 SM South players who got into the game scored.

Sophomore Dainan Swoope led the way with 18 points. He was four-of-eight from behind the three-point line. Senior Jake Caldwell added 17 and junior Devin Newsome had 11.

The Raiders won the battle of the boards 32-16, led by Swoope with six.

Senior Connor Ryan paced the Cougars with 11 points.

Lansing 59, Hays 42

For the third consecutive year, Lansing will be playing a semifinal game in the state tourney. But if the 21-1 Lions are to reverse recent history — they lost in the semis the last two years — they might want to take their coach’s assessment of Thursday’s game to heart.

“We feel like we didn’t play well defensively,” Coach Rob Briggs said. “We didn’t block out very well and shot too many perimeter jump shots.”

Lansing led 18-9 at the end of the first quarter, but allowed the Indians to win the second quarter 11-9.

“We had solid quarters except for the second,” Briggs said.

The closest Hays came in the second half was nine points.

The Lions had three players in double figures, led by senior Ron Clayter with 19. Senior Clayton Young and junior Khalil Bailey added 10 each.

Lansing was just two-of-13 from behind the three-point line.

“We missed too many perimeter jump shots,” Briggs said.

Hays won the rebounding battle 29-21, but turned the ball over 21 times.

Hays senior Adam Deterding grabbed eight rebounds and sophomore Brady Werth had six boards. Deterding led the Indians in scoring with 13.

Briggs was happy that his team only had nine turnovers but thinks they will have to play better in the semifinals.

“We had to be a lot better on defense and rebounding,” he said.

Lansing will play the winner of Thursday night’s Emporia and Wichita Kapaun-Mount Carmel game at 8:15 p.m. on Friday.