Basketball Recap: Saint Thomas Aquinas Comes Up Short in High-Profile Matchup with Blue Valley West

On Friday, Saint Thomas Aquinas faced Blue Valley West in a battle between two of the state's top teams. The Saint Thomas Aquinas Saints fell 60-52 to the Blue Valley West Jaguars. The Saints were given a dose of their own medicine in this game as the Jaguars apparently hadn't forgotten their defeat the last time these teams played back in February of 2024.

Ben Renze

Points (Career)

02/28/25 vs Blue Valley West	16
02/07/25 vs Basehor-Linwood	11
01/03/25 vs Bishop Miege	11
01/28/25 vs Kansas City East Christian Academy	10
02/25/25 @ Bishop Miege	9

London Burton and Ben Renze certainly did their best on Friday to avoid the loss. Burton went 8-for-15 to rack up 24 points, while Renze shot 70% from the field en route to 16 points and five rebounds. The dominant performance gave Renze a new career-high in points.

Saint Thomas Aquinas' loss ended a four-game streak of wins at home and dropped them to 13-7. Those victories came thanks in part to their offensive performance across that stretch, as they averaged 65.0 points over those games. As for Blue Valley West, they are on a roll lately: they've won 11 of their last 13 contests. That's provided a nice bump to their 13-7 record this season.

Saint Thomas Aquinas will face off against Schlagle at 7:00 p.m. on Wednesday. Saint Thomas Aquinas has given up an average of 53 points per game this season, so hopefully the team got some defensive drills in this week. Blue Valley West does not have any more games scheduled as of now.