Royal Valley Panther Boys are Big 7 League Champions
The Royal Valley boys basketball team won the Big Seven League – the first in school history – with a 13-1 final league record after a home win recently over Sabetha 63-43.
“It’s a great accomplishment. Our main focus has always been one game at a time,” said RV head coach Trent Oliva. “I felt like if we could compete for the league title, that would set us up well for the post season.”
Oliva said the only other time the Panthers won their league was in 1974 when they were part of the Delaware League.
Oliva said the Big Seven is a “very competitive” league that has helped the team prepare for the post season.
“We’ve been fortunate to come out on the right side of a couple of close wins,” Coach Oliva said. “The Big Seven has tested us, and hopefully, it’s given us an opportunity to make a run here late in the season.”
During the game against Sabetha, RV scored 16 points in both the first and second quarters to take a 32-19 lead at the half.
“I thought we did a good job of coming out ready to play. We had some guys battling through some sickness, and I thought they did a good job of working through that,” he said. “We built up a lead, and we were able to maintain that throughout the game.”
The Panthers outscored the Bluejays 18-14 in the third quarter and 13-10 in the fourth to take the 20-point win.
“They matched up with us well,” Oliva said of Sabetha. “Their big guys got in some foul trouble and that helped us throughout the game.”
RV was led by junior Nahcs Wahwassuck, who had 22 points, followed by senior Komesh Spoonhunter with 14 points and sophomore Brady Klotz with 12 points.
RV: 16-16-18-13 – 63
Sabetha: 11-8-14-10 – 43
Individual statistics
RV: Wahwassuck 7-2-2-4-22, Spoonhunter 7-0-0-2-14, Klotz 5-0-2-2-12, Thomas 4-0-0-0-8, Canady 1-1-0-0-5, Miller 1-0-0-0-0. Totals 25-3-4-8-63.
Sabetha: Evans 5-0-3-7-13, Argabright 2-2-0-0-10, Grimm 4-0-2-5-10, Garber 2-0-0-3-4, Menold 1-0-0-0-2, Funk 1-0-0-0-2, Schmelzle 1-0-0-0-2. Totals 16-2-5-15-43.
JV: RV 51, Sabetha 27
