Bellevue West repeats, sets gold standard in Class A

Mustangs vs. TBirds (Part V) had all the billing for a blockbuster showdown and it started that way as the teams went blow for blow, tying five times exchanging the lead thrice. 

In the first quarter, injury concerns started to mount when both Jaden Jackson and Jacob Arop received leg treatment behind the Bellevue West bench.

Jackson rolled his ankle, but fought through with some encouragement from his coach.

“In the first half when I first rolled it, I just kept thinking about it because it was bothering me. But at halftime, coach (Steve) Klein got on me, told me to stop worrying about it,” Jackson said with a laugh.

Then, senior Steven Poulicek took a hard hit to the head and was on the ground by the basket stanchion for an extended period before being helped to his feet and walking gingerly back to the locker room, where he remained for the rest of the first half.

Klein said afterward he “honestly wasn’t sure” exactly the extent of the injury, but expected it to be a concussion. Poulicek remained in the locker room until the final moments of the game, when he came out to celebrate and cut down the nets.

In his place, up stepped Isaiah McMorris. 

The senior guard knows everything there is to know not only about Millard North – he spent his first two years there before transferring to Bellevue West before last season for basketball and football, the sport he will play at Nebraska next fall – but also about winning state titles.

He achieved a rare (if-ever) accomplished feat, winning four state titles at two different schools (two with the Mustangs (2021-22, Bellevue West ‘23-24).

“It’s been a journey, obviously, I still have mad love for Millard North because I’ve been there for two years and I know basically everyone on the team,” McMorris said. “So for me, it was just about having fun, and I think I was able to do that.”

That he did, finishing with 26 minutes played and draining a big three to tie the game in the second half. 

He also led, along with Jaden Jackson and Jacop Arop, on the defensive end with a pair of steals.

“Our whole team is defense, that’s what we preach,” he said. “Day in and day out. So we know if shots just not going in, our defense is our savior.”

Denying easy baskets was the focus for McMorris and Arop, who along with Robby Garcia regularly drew Derek Rollins, averaging 18.3 points per game heading into the state tournament.

“First half, he had quite a few buckets,” Arop said (Rollins scored 10 of his 13 in the first 16 minutes). “So during that second half, me and Robby knew that we had to be better and just limit his easy baskets and limited Millard North from going off his momentum.”

The TBirds fell behind by as many as nine in the first half as the Mustangs shot 10-13 from inside the 3-point arc (just 1-13 outside), while Bellevue West was 8-30 from the field and a measly 1-12 beyond the arc.

In the absence of Jackson’s scoring and with Poulicek – a floor spacer who can shoot – out, Arop and Robby Garcia (the lone junior with regular minutes) combined for 13 to keep the TBirds in the game.

“Especially at the beginning of the game, Jaden wasn’t playing his best and we knew that, so we just had to get something going,” Garcia said. “But we knew once we came into halftime, we were gonna come out, we knew Jaden was gonna do what he has to do because he’s a really good player.”

Down 25-18 going into the third quarter, the TBirds came alive.

Jackson especially rose to the top, making three straight layups (after scoring just two points in the first half) and grabbing two steals to cut the deficit to three.

“Really, we just had to go out there and play normal, play the way we played, and the shots would fall in, they’d just go in,” he said. 

McMorris then delivered his three to tie the game, and Jackson knocked down two more threes to cap a 13-0 run and put the TBirds up by six.

Then, it was time for a senior who had up to that point been quiet in Lincoln.

Scoreless through the first two games with just two field goals attempted, Jadyn Cascio Jensen hit a pair of big threes to maintain the Bellevue West edge.

“The first two games were rough,” he said. “Tonight, I knew I was gonna have to step up. So I stepped up and I stayed ready. So just gotta thank God for giving me the opportunity to make a play and I did.”

Supplementing seven fourth quarter points from Jackson, senior Eldon Turner made key baskets.

A paint jumper to start the fourth put the TBirds up six, and the other was effectively a dagger.

In a one-possession game, Turner got a lane to the basket, drove and finished with the right hand through contact to put Bellevue West up 53-48 with 1:25 left.

“Everybody’s got their time when they have to make a play or do whatever, but I guess mine came at the end of the game and the ball went in the basket and that’s all that matters,” he said humbly.