A riveting season-long journey to the Boys State Basketball Tournament came to an end for Norwalk Wednesday afternoon, but oh what a ride it was.

Leading just once the entire game at 3-2, the fifth-seeded Warriors rallied valiantly in the second half before losing to fourth-seeded West Des Moines Valley 63-48 in a Class 4A state quarterfinal at Wells Fargo Arena. The game was streamed live on kniakrls.com (KNIA3).

The Tigers made 19-of-20 free throws and 8-of-15 three-pointers on the day, using a 14-5 second-quarter advantage to lead 31-18 at halftime. The Warriors, who attempted only three free throws and shot 34 percent from the field, cut the margin to four points multiple times in the second half but could not get over the hump.

Valley improved to 19-5 overall and will face No. 8 seed Pleasant Valley in today’s 4A semifinal round at 5:30. Norwalk, which entered state on an impressive 16-game winning streak, finished 20-4 and provided some lasting memories for second-year head coach Aaron Pelzer.

“I’ve been a part of a lot of seasons, and I’m not really sure that I’ve ever seen a group consistently bring energy and effort for that many games in a row,” Pelzer said. “There’s usually a letdown somewhere, and during our 16-game winning streak I didn’t question that once.

“They always played as hard as they could, they were always tough, and those are the things we asked of them – and kind of demanded of them – because on nights when shots don’t fall you have to be those things.”

Pelzer felt that the Warriors played somewhat stagnant offensively in the first half against the Tigers’ athletic, switching defense, but he was pleased by a much more aggressive approach in the final two quarters. Redek Born led the Warriors with 17 points, six rebounds and five assists. Aidan Harder tallied 11 points and four steals while Jack Brown and Braeden Carlson added nine points each. 

Valley, which starts four sophomores, attempted 24 fewer field goals than Norwalk but shot an impressive 56.3 percent. Zay Robinson paced the Tigers’ balanced scoring attack with 14 points and Kiki Deng shot 3-for-3 from behind the arc and scored 13.

Norwalk will graduate seven seniors off this year’s roster, including a pair of starters in Carlson and Brown.