Justice McKernan

Winning tradition is something Nemaha Valley boys’ basketball is quite use to under Coach Jon Thomas and this year has been no different amassing a 21-2 record and punching their ticket to their seventh straight State tournament, winning the sub-state title.

One of the key reasons for the Raiders success this season has been the play of senior point guard, Justice McKernan who has stepped up his game throughout the season and especially recently helping shoulder the scoring load and display leadership as the floor general in the same sense.

Raiders head into State with a six-game winning streak in which McKernan has lead the team in five of the six games in scoring averaging 18.3 ppg over those six games. Justice closed out the regular season helping the Raiders to wins over Jeff West in double overtime, ACCHS and Jefferson County North posting 16, 15 and 17 points, respectively in those contests.

The Nemaha Valley senior, continued his strong play on the court with an impressive sub-state as the Raiders opened postseason at home against Marysville and the Raiders notched the 52-47 grind out win, with 17 points from McKernan. Justice followed that game up with his best offensive game this season pouring in 28 points against Horton in an 85-65 win in the Semifinals, giving the Raiders a date with their rival the Sabetha Bluejays for the third time this season.

Third time proved to be the charm for the Raiders against the Bluejays as they ended Sabetha’s unbeaten season and earned a spot in the Class 3A State tournament with a 47-35 win as McKernan posted 17 points at least for the fourth straight game, finishing with 17 and went 10-12 from the charity stripe.

All season the Justice has been the maestro of the offense orchestra the offense of Coach Thomas on the floor for the Raiders while posting averages of 12.7 ppg, 1.6 rpg, 5.2 apg and 1.3 apg. He’s been a scorer posting double figures in the last eight games of the season for the Raiders, along with many other games, while also being a facilitator dishing out 119 assists thus far this season.

The Raiders know winning and Justice has been an integral part to the Raiders success in their final season as Raiders, with the focus now turned to that elusive State Championship, Justice, his teammates and coaches have their sights set on another prize to end their season.