photo by: Conner Becker/Journal-World

Baldwin head boys basketball coach Don Blanchat looks on during a game against Bishop Seabury on Friday, Jan. 19, 2024, at Baldwin High School.

The pressure is on for Baldwin High boys basketball as it gears up for a first-round battle with No. 4 Towanda-Circle at the 4A state tournament on Thursday in Salina.

Baldwin was eliminated in overtime by Eudora in the first round of last year’s state tourney, and this year’s three seniors — Joey Ziembicki, Talan Torrez and Wyatt Moody — are hoping for a memorable finish to their careers, Baldwin coach Don Blanchat said.

“They want to go back,” Blanchat said. “(Ziembicki) was fantastic on Saturday and played his heart out. Talan did, too, but the shots just weren’t falling. These guys are excited to be back and they’ve seen it. They played major minutes last year as juniors, and they want to take the next step.”

Now it’s the Thunderbirds standing in the Bulldogs’ way. Towanda-Circle has what Blanchat describes as a “balanced attack,” and three players — seniors Conner Chadwell and Ethan Koehn and junior Landon Boldra — are at the front of his scouting report. Chadwell had a game-high 23 points to send the Thunderbirds past Ulysses over the weekend.

Baldwin (19-3) and Towanda-Circle (20-2) have had one opponent in common this season — 6-15 Augusta. They both beat Augusta, but the Bulldogs escaped by only a possession. The Thunderbirds met Augusta twice during the regular season and won both of those games by double digits.

“They’re not just looking at that one game and neither are we,” Blanchat said. “It does look similar, but it just comes down to this game, though. You either survive and advance, or you don’t.”

At substate, the Bulldogs were a No. 2 seed and cruised by No. 15 Independence by 48 points. Then, with two 24-point performances by Ziembicki and sophomore Cooper Carr, they beat an eight-win Louisburg team, 59-49, and punched their ticket to state.

In that game, Carr also set a new single-season assists record for Baldwin with 135 (6.1 per game). Carr is also the Bulldogs’ leading scorer with 19.1 points per game.

Blanchat said that in the substate title game, Louisburg put up a fight.

“Those guys didn’t want to lose,” Blanchat said. “They came out, they battled and did everything they could do to make it really hard on us.”

Baldwin and Towanda-Circle are the second game on Thursday. Tipoff is set for 4 p.m. at Tony’s Pizza Events Center. Find the full 4A boys state tournament bracket here.