“It’s the best feeling, it’s great,” Bates said . “For us to be able to get to this point and for us all to be together, it’s just special. This was what we set out to do. We wanted to go and put our name in the record books and we’ve done that. But we want to keep making history.”
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Seven Lakes is out to make history.
The Spartans have set their sights high from the beginning of the season and have met their expectations every step along the way.
From a district title, to an unbeaten district season, to getting further in the playoffs than the team did last year, Seven Lakes has found a way to keep reaching its goals.
The biggest challenge came Monday, as the Spartans faced Stratford in a matchup where the winner clinched a spot in the Class 6A Region III Tournament.
Seven Lakes once again found a way, as the Spartans came out 66-61 winners over Stratford, overcoming a stiff test and clinching a spot in the regional tournament for the first time in 11 years.
“It’s the best feeling, it’s great,” said junior point guard A.J. Bates. “For us to be able to get to this point and for us all to be together, it’s just special. This was what we set out to do. We wanted to go and put our name in the record books and we’ve done that. But we want to keep making history.”
It’s the first time since 2012 that the Spartans will be making the trip to the regional tournament, and it’s a team advancing that is already putting its named in the record books at Seven Lakes, as the win on Monday, the 34th of the season, set the record for the Spartans most wins in any season ever.
“This is just a huge accomplishment and it’s been amazing being part of this team,” said senior center Josh Akpovwa. “To be here as a senior and be a part of this team setting all there records is amazing. The hard work pays off, but it’s not done yet.”
It was a tightly contested battle from the opening tip, as Seven Lakes came out blazing offensively, but so did Stratford as both teams traded buckets throughout the first quarter, as Seven Lakes led by one, the Spartans kept things going into the second quarter to hold a 34-27 lead heading into the half.
Stratford was not done though, as they came back to make things a one point game again at the end of the third quarter and stayed in things until the final seconds, when Bates sealed the game by hitting two free throws with under a second remaining.
“We knew that defensively we didn’t play a completely clean first half and we could play better,” Akpovwa said. “We ha to go out and show what we worked for in practice. We came out and we locked down when we had to and it really helped us get that win.”
Seven Lakes had faced Stratford earlier this season and had won handily, but they knew Monday would be a different story and that Stratford was a much improved team.
“We pounded that into the guys brains and repeated it about 100 times in the past few days,” said Seven Lakes head coach Shannon Heston. “In their last three games, Stratford has won convincingly with two of them coming against state ranked teams. We had to realize, this was not the same team we played in November. They played fantastic, but our guys were ready and up to the challenge.”
Bates finished the night with 26 points while Akpovwa had 18 and Brett Norton had 13 points in the win.
Seven Lakes advances to face the winner of Pearland Dawson and Clear Falls in the regional semifinal on Friday at the Campbell Center. For the Spartans its another chance to make history, as they are one of just three Seven Lakes teams to ever reach this point in the playoffs, and with a win could be the first Spartans team to make a regional final.
“We talk about history and the history of our program a lot,” Heston said. “We want to honor the guys who came before us and this is the first time since we made the regional tournament back to back years that we’ve gotten there. It’s something you can’t take for granted and is really special. We’re super pumped and excited but we have to focus and make sure we’re ready. It’s a special thing.”
Class 6A Regional Quarterfinals
Seven Lakes 66, Stratford 61
Points: (SL) A.J. Bates 26, Josh Akpovwa 18, Brett Norton 13, Nasir Price 6, Tillman Jaramillo 3; (S) Cameron Cronin 22, Tristan Williams 16, Deanu Dawes 8, Kamari Stanfill 7, Pal Skoutelakis 5, Wes Wohlfahrt 3;
Halftime: Seven Lakes 34-27; 3-Pointers: (SL) Bates, Norton, Jaramillo; (S) Cronin 3, Wohlfahrt, Skoutelakis; Records: Seven Lakes 34-4, 23-12