Blue Valley Northwest beats Lawrence Free State for state championship

Blue Valley Northwest got a fourth-quarter scare for the second consecutive year in the Class 6A boys championship, but the Huskies scored the final nine points on Saturday to hold off Lawrence Free State 51-40 at Koch Arena.

BV Northwest senior Joe Pleasant scored 19 points, including five free throws in the final minute, to boost the Huskies to their fourth 6A title in six seasons.

Blue Valley Northwest (21-4) finished the season with a 17-game winning streak and improved to 4-3 in championship games since 2010.

“After being 4-4 earlier this season, we could have just been average,” BV Northwest coach Ed Fritz said. “We haven’t had a game closer than 11 points against a school in Kansas, which is pretty amazing.

“We went through a tough league, beat Bishop Miege by 17 and beat a lot of good teams. I’m just real proud of what these guys accomplished."

The Huskies were exceptional on offense in all three tournament games. BV Northwest shot 55 percent from the field (17 of 31) in the championship and finished the tournament at 61.5 percent (75 of 122).

But after withstanding a huge charge from Lawrence High in the 2017 title game, the Huskies were in a tight spot down the stretch again Saturday.

Free State (19-6), which lost to the Huskies by 27 points in last year’s state semifinals, got 16 points from future Kansas walk-on Garrett Luinstra. The Firebirds erased most of a 13-point deficit to pull within 42-40, and were on their way to tying the score with 1 minute, 28 seconds remaining.

But as Free State’s Zach McDermott started to flip the ball toward the basket on a drive down the lane, Firebirds coach Sam Stroh called a timeout. Free State failed to score again.

“We thought we had a 5-second count or it was getting close,” Stroh said. “And we talked about taking the last shot and trying to win the game.

“It was my fault, but we were still good. We had the ball and a one-possession game. That’s what we wanted — the ball with a chance.”

Instead, Huskies senior Parker Braun stole the ball to foil Free State’s ensuing possession, and BV Northwest used a series of defensive rebounds and free throws to prevail.

Pleasant, who finished the tournament with 61 points, made 5 of 6. Teammate Sam Ward added the last four, including two after McDermott got a technical foul with 18 seconds to play.

“Free State had a great game plan,” Fritz said. “They did all they needed to do to put themselves in position to win. We missed some 1-and-1s but we finally got our composure.”

Topeka takes third

Topeka got 22 points from Larry White and dodged potential damage from a couple late turnovers to earn a 71-70 win over Derby, Topeka's second one-point victory of the tournament. DaVonshai Harden added 13 for the Trojans. Derby (16-8) was led by Bryant Mocaby’s 21 points. The Panthers got the ball back with under two seconds to play, but Tyler Brown’s three-point shot caromed off the back of the rim as the buzzer sounded.

This story was originally published March 10, 2018 at 9:22 PM with the headline "Blue Valley Northwest beats Lawrence Free State for state championship."