For the first time since 1999, the Glendale Falcons boys’ basketball team is heading to the Class 4 quarterfinals.
Not to mention, the 2016 squad is also the first in a decade to make a state appearance at all.
The tournament advancement comes from Tuesday night’s dominant 73-57 victory against Webb City at Willard High School.
Behind sophomore Monty Johal’s 18 points in the first 16 minutes of play, Glendale (19-9) led Webb City 41-24 at halftime.
Glendale head coach Brian McTague said, “I thought it was important for us to get off to a really good start and we did. We put the pressure on them early so they were going to have to keep up with us. We were able to get some separation in the game early on.”
To Webb City’s disadvantage, senior starter Zachary Davidson suffered from an ankle injury early in the first quarter and was on the bench for the remainder of the game.
Webb City head coach Jeff Guiot said, “We knew we had to go to Plan B. We had to play some guys out of position. But that’s part of the game and we just had to play through it.”
Using this to their advantage, the Falcons kept about a 20-point lead throughout much of the game to eventually nab their ticket to the quarterfinals.
McTague said, “I thought our interior defense was tremendous tonight. We held their two big kids to six or seven combined points and we were able to hold our own on the board, and that kind of got our break started. We were able to get out and run the floor and make it very difficult for them to keep up with us.”
Leading the way to the playoff win was Johal with 29, giving him a total of 1,062 career points.
Joining him in double numbers was Jordan Walton with 13, Zac Helm with 11, and Tristan Baker with 10.
Senior Will Sachs gave Glendale eight points and earned 12 rebounds.
“I’m really proud of Will Sachs,” McTague said. “He was tremendous tonight. He was everywhere. Everywhere there was a loose ball he was there to scoop it up, or to keep it alive so somebody else could pick it up.”
The Cardinals, who finished 21-7 on the season, will lose six seniors.
Guiot said of his team, “They played with their heart and soul all year long. From the beginning of the season until the very end, we kept getting better and better and I couldn’t be prouder of them.”
Glendale is set to play Helias Catholic, also 19-9, 2:45 p.m. Saturday at Southwest Baptist University in Bolivar.
“The kids are together right now,” McTague said. “Our chemistry is really good and our kids are pulling for each other. If we can go up to Bolivar on Saturday and play well, we’ll put ourselves in a good position. But we’re going to have to play just as hard and just as well as we have the last three games.”
BOX SCORE
| 1Q | 2Q | 3Q | 4Q | F | |
| Glendale | 20 | 21 | 17 | 15 | 73 |
| Webb City | 12 | 12 | 15 | 18 | 57 |
Glendale: Monty Johal 29, Jordan Walton 13, Zac Helm 11, Tristan Baker 10, William Sachs 8, Garrett Freeman 2
Webb City: Kaden Roy 17, Payton Guiot 8, Grant Ellis 8, Preston Ellis 6, Tate Smith Trey Gibson 4, Tyson Roderique 4, Zac Davidson 3, Javis Berlin 2, Jacob Gaskill 1
