The Bishop Garrigan boys basketball team advanced to the state tournament for the third time in program history (and the first time since 2010) with a 56-35 win over Janesville Tuesday night in the Class 1A Substate No. 2 game in Webster City, Iowa.

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For senior T.J. Schnurr, who’s played heavy minutes in all four of his high school seasons, the victory was the realization of a fantasy.

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“It’s something you dream about,” he said. “We all thought we could get here, it was in the back of our mind but we just took it one game at a time. It’s just awesome now that it’s real.”

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Bishop Garrigan led wire-to-wire, leaning on depth and defense. Four different Golden Bears scored in double figures: Schnurr and sophomore Angelo Winkel each scored 12 points, while junior Cade Winkel and senior Brad Capesius both scored 10. The team’s fifth starter, junior John Joyce, scored seven.

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After holding Janesville to just 17 first-half points, Bishop Garrigan led by six at the break. Janesville scored first in the third quarter to get within four points. The Golden Bears immediately responded with an 8-0 run to push the advantage to 12.

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Angelo Winkel and Joyce traded three-point plays before Capesius found a streaking Angelo Winkel for a fast-break dunk to punctuate the run.

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“That might have been the most exciting moment of my career,” Winkel said. “Just looking at the crowd and seeing them all cheer us on and stuff – it was a great moment, just knowing that we were in charge of the game.”

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In total, the Golden Bears outscored the Wildcats 33-18 in the second half. Entering the night, Janesville had averaged 67 points per game yet scored just 35 against Bishop Garrigan’s defense – the team’s lowest scoring output of the season by 12 points.

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Bishop Garrigan Head Coach Mark Meister, who took over on an interim basis just before the postseason began, was most proud of his defense’s performance.

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“This group takes defense seriously,” Meister said. “They’re just so engaged on that end, thinking one turnover might win this game, another possession and we might come out on top,” he added. “They understand the importance of that.”

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The Golden Bears held Janesville’s Codey Hicks – who averaged nearly 23 points on 81 percent shooting all season – to just 10 points on 5-10 shooting from the field. Winkel, a sophomore, defended Hicks on most possessions, but made note of the impact the intensity that playing with four seniors provides.

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“It’s just been really impressive because we’ve been working our tails off out there on the defensive end and it leads to offense,” Winkel said. "It helps us out a lot, just knowing that we’ve got these seniors and it could be their last game if we lose. We’re playing way harder because of it.”

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That effort and intensity helped the Golden Bears clinch the team’s first state tournament appearance in nine years. Schnurr, though, quickly turned his attention to what’s ahead.

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“We can win the state championship. We can win out. Obviously, every single team says that,” according to Schnurr, “but we think that we have the actual people to do it.”

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As the No. 5 seed in the state tournament, Bishop Garrigan (19-6) will face No. 4 Montezuma (21-1) on Monday, March 4 at 11:15 a.m. from Wells Fargo Arena in Des Moines.