After the Saints won their first ever state tournament game in 2015, the Xavier boys’ basketball team has been a regular participant in the tournament held at Wells Fargo Arena in Des Moines.

Once again, they were able to qualify for state after beating Dewitt Central by a score of 70-30 in their regional quarter nal game, against Mount Vernon by a score of 63-55 in their regional semi nal game, and Dubuque Wahlert by a score of 58-37 in their substate nal game.

However, the road to state was not easy. The Saints were granted one of the lowest seeds in their region and were short a starting player heading intothepostseason.Thelowerseed meant that the boys had to play tougher competition on the road to reach the substate nal game. Junior shooting guard Jackson Joens was the missing starter, who had to sit out of the regional quarter nal game due to a concussion during the Saints’ last regular season game against Dubuque Wahlert.

“We missed Jackson’s o ense and savvy greatly, but our entire team elevated their games a little bit,” head coach Ryan Luehrsmann said.

The Class 3A defending state champions were able to catch an early glimpse of the stadium- like Wells Fargo Arena, as their substate nal game was played at the US Cellular Center.

“There was a lot of energy at the Cell,” junior point guard

Matt Mims said. “Playing in an environment like that really gets us ready for state at the Well.”

The boys knew the competition would not get any easier going forward so they had to start preparing as soon as they could.

“There are a lot of great 3A teams at the state tournament so every game will be challenging,” Mims said. “We just have to be focused every practice and keep getting better.”

This team will have lots to live up to at the state tournament, as the two previous teams have gotten third place and rst place, respectively. Some of these players were on both teams, including Joens and Mims whentheywerefreshmen.Theywill take this experience into the 2017 state tournament and build on it.

“Being at state as a freshmen really prepared me for last year and this year,” Mims said.

The Saints played on Tuesday, March 7, against Mount Pleasant in Des Moines at the Wells Fargo Arena. Tipo was at 3: 45 p.m.