The goal is simple for Valley: bring home a state championship

TWIN FALLS, Idaho (KMVT/KSVT)—Valley’s goal has been simple all season: to win a state championship.

Valley will have the chance, as the Vikings enter the 2A State Tournament as the No. 2 overall seed, which tips off Thursday at Vallivue High School.

The Vikings enter the state tournament with a perfect 22-0 record after claiming its second straight Snake River Championship, beating Hagerman 69-51.

Valley never looked ahead in its goal throughout the year, taking everything one game at a time.

“Winning the conference was our goal since we won it last year,” senior guard Josh Hardy told KMVT. “We got it done, and now we’re heading to state.”

Valley is eying its first state championship since 2001 come Thursday afternoon.

“We have a lot of momentum going into state, and we’re going to work hard for it,” senior guard Pedro Robles said. “We have one weekend left with this group.”

Being the top dog in the conference and one of the best in the state isn’t always an easy task.

It comes with the pressure of getting everyone’s best and leaves little room for errors on the court.

With a seven-senior team that has plenty of depth, the Vikings have embraced the challenge.

“We felt the pressure throughout the year, but that made us hungry. We played our brand of basketball to get to this point,” senior guard Shaun Malone explained to KMVT. “This has been our dream since we were freshmen arriving to Valley for the first time.”

Senior forward Nathan Christensen echoed the statement.

“The pressure pushed us to want to succeed,” Christensen said. “It makes us perform to our best, and we want to be at our best going into state. We have plans to win it all.”

Valley will open the tournament on Thursday at 2:00 against No. 7 Grace Grizzlies.

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