Opportunistic Blue Valley West boys win, advance to Kansas 5A state semifinals

Blue Valley West put together a nice little spurt near the end of the first quarter and maintained its composure the rest of the way in a 68-49 upset victory over No. 2 seed Shawnee Heights on Thursday.

Blue Valley West, 16-7, will play the Wichita Heights-Kapaun Mount Carmel winner at 8:15 Friday in the Kansas Class 5A boys semifinals.

“We have been working so hard this season,” BV West senior center Blaise Gammon said. “Anytime you advance at this point in the season it feels great.”

The lead changed four times early in the first quarter. The last one came when Blue Valley West turned a 12-11 deficit into a 19-14 lead.

Blue Valley West, for the remainder of the game, either took advantage of a fast break opportunity or patiently ran its offense, often times finding Gammon underneath. On the fast break, it was senior Connor Kaiser’s layups that did damage.

“We always say we try to be opportunistic in transition,” Gammon said. “If teams are going to press us, we are looking for layups.”

Gammon was six-for-eight from the field and finished with 16 points, and Kaiser was seven-for-nine and scored 14.

BV West’s style of play allowed the Jaguars to expand their three-point lead after one quarter to 35-24 at halftime.

“We tried to play smart tonight,” Kaiser said. “We started the game trying to get it inside. We didn’t want to settle for jump shots because we knew if we missed those, they would be on a fast break.”

This story was originally published March 12, 2015 at 9:12 PM with the headline "Opportunistic Blue Valley West boys win, advance to Kansas 5A state semifinals."