Thirty-one years.

That’s how long it has been since the varsity boys basketball team has seen the playoff court.

Until this year.

On March 7 the team traveled to Austin for the state semi-final game, winning third overall after a 52-41 loss to Converse Judson.

“You know I don’t think we have done anything different. I think it is just a matter of doing them better,” head coach Jeff McCullough said. “I think last year we suited up 24 different guys on the varsity [team, and] this year it [has] been a pretty consistent group from start to finish. The leadership of our captains has been very essential to our success. How [they] handle themselves and take care of our team [has] played a huge role.”

The team jumped from a rank of 779 in the 2012-2013 season to 77th in the nation this year. McCullough said the extra practices and longer off-season helped them make it to the last final four.

“We have a full spring and summer off-season to implement our system. The first year you start in August, and we’re playing games by November, and that just doesn’t give you a lot of time to implement and change the culture and do things ‘our way,’” McCullough said. “So I think that was the biggest challenge last year was in a short span of time getting the kids to adjust and being able to cover everything so you got to kind of pick and choose.”

Bouncing back from the team’s loss in the first round of playoffs last season, senior varsity captain Myron Fisher said his main focus was to win each game.

“In the middle of the season, it felt like we [would just] go out there and [have] fun,” Fisher said. “But we still had to win the game, [and] we still had to take care of business.”

Senior Blake Williams said the team chemistry has played a big role in the season’s turn around.

“We had a lot more guys buy into the system,” senior Blake Williams said.  “And that helped us out a lot, and since everyone already played together pretty much, we knew what to do [and] knew how to play with each other, and that helped us get to where we got.”

According to Fisher, the goal to put the basketball team in the spotlight and earn the respect of their classmates motivated the them to play a strong season.

“With half of our team being seniors, we didn’t want to go out on a bad note,” Fisher said. “And what better way to do that than [to] get our picture on the wall and have playoff trophies [in the hall] that will be there forever?”