Prep basketball wasn’t expected to amount to much by most metrics, but they made it to the state tournament nonetheless. On Thursday, March 9, Creighton Prep fell to Norfolk in the quarterfinals of the state tournament to cap off a successful season that exceeded expectations.

Coming into the season, Prep was ranked as the number ten Class A team by the Omaha World-Herald, with few anticipating that Prep would amount to much over the course of the season.

Head coach Josh Luedtke was pleased with how the team fared, especially in light of the early season predictions.

“I was very happy with the success of the team, we finished 21-4 and won a district title and earned a berth in the state tournament,” said Luedtke.  “We were hoping to win state but it just wasn’t meant to be but what a tremendous year for a team not ranked preseason.”

With a chip on their shoulder, the Junior Jays stormed out to a 6-0 start before losing to Bellevue West in the Metro Holiday tournament. Prep got back to their winning ways, pushing their record to 19-1 and earning a ranking as the number 2 team in Class A.

From there, Prep stumbled a bit, losing their next two games to Papillion La-Vista and Lincoln Southeast. However, the Junior Jays recovered to win their district, defeating Omaha Northwest in a nail-biter, 62-61, and overcoming Millard West 69-60 to advance to the state tournament.

Prep entered the state tournament as the number three seed, but was faced with a tough matchup in the first round by way of the sixth seed Norfolk Panthers. Prep trailed 45-38 at the end of the third quarter, but stormed back in dramatic fashion to force overtime. Down by three points with two seconds left to play, Will Hanafan banked in a three-pointer from a difficult angle to tie the game up. However, Norfolk took the Junior Jays down in overtime, winning 63-59.

Over the course of the season, two players stood out to senior guard Tommy Steier as being crucial to the team’s success: Will Hanafan and Akol Arop.

“Two players that were instrumental to the team’s success was Akol Arop and Will Hanafan. Akol has an exceptional way of scoring down low and his massive dunks propelled our team,” said Steier. “Will could make his own shot with the crossover pull-up and he would lock up the other team’s best offensive player.”

Arop averaged 15 points per game and 8.6 rebounds per game on the season, leading the team in both categories. Hanfan averaged 8.4 points per game, but his biggest contributions may have been his clutch shots late in the game. He made late threes against Millard West in the district final and against Norfolk at the state tournament to propel the Junior Jays along.

For Hanafan, Steier, Matt Wellendorf and AJ Hubner, the loss to Norfolk marked the end of the road for the four seniors.

However, Steier believes Prep still has a bright future, with four out of five starters returning next season.

“The season didn’t end how we wanted to, but we came out and defied all the critics. Knowing the juniors and sophomores on the team they will be back and ready to win it all next year,” said Steier.

All in all, Prep had an outstanding year, finishing with a record of 21-4, a figure that Luedtke appreciated greatly.

“I am just extremely pleased and thankful that this team had a great season because they really worked hard for success and knowing we did not have any D1 guys, like many other schools in town but were able to win 21 of 25 guys is something to be proud of,” said Luedtke. “Prep is a unique and special place to play and these student athletes represented our school very well.”