The Norwalk boys basketball team left little doubt on Friday night, rolling past Sioux City West 71-43 in a Class 4A, Substate 1 semifinal heard live on kniakrls.com (KNIA3).

Leading 17-10 early in the second quarter, the sixth-ranked Warriors scored the next 14 points and took control of the game with a commanding 24-4 run. They led 41-17 at the half and the margin grew as high as 33 points in the fourth quarter.

Norwalk improved to 19-3 with its 15th straight victory, and will now face ninth-ranked Sioux City East in a substate final at Denison Tuesday night. The Black Raiders rallied to defeat Johnston 63-60 on Friday, improving to 21-2.

Norwalk coach Aaron Pelzer tells KNIA-KRLS Sports that his squad is thrilled to advance within one more win of reaching the Boys State Basketball Tournament.

“We’ve been so focused on what we’re doing game by game that to finally be in the game that we all wanted to be in, I think they’re pretty excited,” Pelzer said. “I’m happy for them, happy for the program, happy for the community, and that’s kind of what we were shooting for was to get to this game and see what we could do.”

The Warriors demonstrated the perfect combination of playing both focused and relaxed during their dominant first half. Defensively, they identified Sioux City West’s trio of dangerous three-point shooters and made it difficult for them to finish on drives to the rim. Offensively, Norwalk broke the Wolverines’ press early on, hit cutters both in the half court and transition, and made five 3-pointers in each half.

In the middle of it all was junior point guard Redek Born, who scored 20 of his game-high 32 points in the first half and finished with seven three-pointers. Jack Brown added a pair of treys and 12 points while Braeden Carlson and Aidan Harder scored 10 apiece. As a team, the Warriors made 10-of-12 free throws – all in the first half.

Sioux City West, which finished the season 12-12 overall, was led by Keavian Hayes with 16 points (unofficially) and Lamarion Mothershead with 12.

Tuesday’s Substate 1 final at Denison will tip off at 7:00 p.m.