It’s been 32 years since the Highland Huskies (19-4) made the boys state basketball tournament. The Huskies will have an opportunity to end the drought tonight when they face the No. 3 Pella Christian Eagles (19-4) in the Class 2A Substate 5 championship game. Highland’s only state tournament appearance came in 1985.

Highland claimed the district championship in their first season in Class 2A with a pair of double-digit victories. The Huskies downed the Mid-Prairie Golden Hawks, 73-44, in the semifinal round on February 16. Highland then upended Central Lee, 74-56, in the district championship game Tuesday.

A pair of brothers has scored more than 300 points each this winter for Highland. Zach Lasek has scored a team-best 363 points while Trent Lasek has contributed 312 points. Zach Lasek has brought down a team-leading 163 rebounds while Trent Lasek has dished out 125 assists.

All four of Pella Christian’s losses have come against Class 3A opponents from the Little Hawkeye Conference. Levi Jungling ranks seventh in the conference with 401 points scored this winter, an average of 17.3 points per game. The Eagles bring a seven-game winning streak into tonight’s game.

The winner of tonight’s game will advance to the state tournament in Des Moines. KCII Sports will have live play-by-play coverage of the substate final on KCII FM 106.1, starting with the pregame show at 6:30 p.m. and tip-off is set for 7 p.m. at Oskaloosa High School. The game will also stream live on KCIIRadio.com and on the KCII mobile app.