Having won 7 of their last 9 games, Axtell came into this year's state tournament a little more "ready" than they did a year ago, quickly jumping out to a 2-0 lead thanks to a bucket by Nate Buessing. That was the score for the first 2 minutes of the contest before Elyria woke up and ended the first quarter on a 16-4 run to lead 16-6 at the end of one. Continuing to shoot well from the field, Elyria extended their lead to 15 at the halftime break leading 31-16. Elyria shot 56% from the field including a perfect 3/3 from behind the half moon. Axtell struggled in the opening half, shooting just 25% from the field and 0/5 from deep. The 3rd quarter was much the same as the previous two had been for Elyria, shooting at a high clip and continuing their exhausting defense, flustering Axtell. The last minute of the 3rd quarter and 4th quarter would prove to be a different story, however, as Axtell started to shoot lights out. Elyria had their largest lead of 45-26 with just under a minute to go in the 3rd when Quinn Buessing finally connected from deep, cutting the lead down to 16. Carrying that momentum into the final frame Buessing connected on three straight triples to cut the lead down to just 7 at 45-38, but that would be the closest Axtell would get. Elyria hit key free throws down the stretch to extend their lead and Axtell ran out of gas and Elyria moved on to the semi-final round on Friday defeating Axtell 53-42

Axtell finished the game shooting 36% from the field and 29% from three but having 14 turnovers hindered the eagles in this quarterfinal match. Elyria was a hot 60% from the floor for the game, including 50% from three. Elyria will face #6 seed Sharon-Springs Wallace County at 8:15 Friday.

Elyria was lead in scoring by Tyler Theissen, their 6'5 Senior with 14 points and 8 boards, Aidan Fields chimed in with 13 points and Jacob Froese added 12.

Axtell was lead in scoring by Quinn Buessing with 26, just 2 shy of his career high, including 4 threes, also grabbing 11 boards. Axtell closes out their campaign with an 11-12 record, but with returning almost the entirety of this state roster, Coach Jayson Tynon can expect for this experience to propel them back to state next year.