The Eagles won the sub-state championship game against Garden City 61-48 Friday. 

The Eagles started off the game fast with senior Matthew LeBegue hitting two threes for a 6-0 lead. LeBegue scored 11 in the first quarter and 20 at halftime on his way to a game-high 30 points. 

However, Garden City kept pushing and made the game close until the very end. 

“It feels good to win a couple in a row,” junior Jacob Schultz said. “We’ll try to win a couple more.” 

The state tournament starts Wednesday at Koch Arena. The Eagles (14-8) will be the eight seed and likely will play Wichita East. 

LeBegue said that it was a huge achievement for the team and the school. 

“It feels great to go to state,” LeBegue said. “Maize had never gone to state two years in a row.” 

For senior Ky-Sean Johnson, one of the players that was part of the state team last year, this moment was special. 

“It means everything to me,” Johnson said. “To do it back-to-back years is something really special.” 

Johnson feels that for a team that has had new transfers come in and play that they are getting along really well. 

“We’ve gone through a lot this year, a lot of adversity,” Johnson said. “We haven’t played together all through high school, but we battled through it.”