For the first time in Bellaire history, the 2024-2025 varsity men’s basketball team will head to state this Saturday, March 8.

Starting off their playoff journey strong with a 73-50 win against Cy-Fair, the Cardinals have been on a roll ever since. In four straight triumphs, they also took down Cinco Ranch, Summer Creek and Seven Lakes to lead them to their Round 5 showdown against San Antonio’s Brennan Bears.

The Round 5 game was held at Texas Southern University on March 4, and fans filed into the stadium to see Bellaire go head-to-head with the top-ranked team in the state and No. 4 in the nation. Bellaire held the lead the entire game; they entered halftime up 28-10 and finished strong 65-57.

“We’ve worked really hard to get here, so just getting here now is a dream come true for me,” senior small forward Shelton Henderson said.

Though the Cardinals were ranked 36th in the state going into Round 5, their performance on the court has proven their strength on a high-level playing field.

“I’m proud that we’re not really listening to the noise,” senior forward Jaren Brown said. “In every game that we’ve won, people have said it’s an upset, and we’ve been ranked low early in the season, but we know just how good we are.”

The boys have put their collective efforts into reaching their goal of going to state and are ready to count on each other to bring home the win. The team’s focus and determination have united them through the season, with each player doing their part to carry the team to the state championship.

“I started off the season pretty lackadaisical and just going through the motions, just trying to get it over with and not playing as hard,” senior guard Kohlman Dutton said. “But as I continued through the season and as we continued to grow as a team, I realized that I wasn’t putting my all into it. So I started waking up at 5 to 5:30 a.m. every morning, going to work out before school like I used to, and just trying to give everything for my team so that I could put us in the best position I could to win state.”

The team has become an unstoppable force due to their evident chemistry and love for one another.

“We’re all a family before teammates, and we’ve been playing together for a while now,” senior guard Ejypt Gibbs said. “Being brothers makes us play for each other more.”

Most of these boys have been playing together since before high school.

“Half of the team has been playing with each other since we were in fourth or fifth grade, and we’ve grown together as a unit since then,” Dutton said. “We’ve had challenges, we’ve had injuries, we’ve had suspensions, we’ve had arguments and all of the grit has made us stronger.”

Even the newer members to the team have been welcomed into the tight-knit group and given the chance to compete at the state level.

“I feel great about the opportunity as a sophomore to play a state championship game,” guard Jadarian Williams said. “It gave me a lot of confidence knowing they trust me, even though I’m one of the youngest on the team.”

This weekend, the team faces off against Duncanville, the No. 6 team in Texas. Winning this game would bring home Bellaire’s first-ever state championship title.

“We’re gonna play our same game, not trying to change anything up,” Henderson said. “We’re coming in with the mentality that we’ve been having and continuing to work together and believe and trust in each other.”

They aren’t doing this just for themselves; they’re doing it for each other.

“My teammates have been my biggest motivation throughout all of this,” senior center and power forward LJ Andrews said. “Seeing them all healthy and knowing we’re accomplishing something together and that we made it this far as a team is pretty impressive.”

No matter which way this game goes, this is the last game the 2025 Bellaire Cardinals will be playing together.

“It feels great, but I’m also not satisfied yet,” Dutton said. “We still have one more game to go.”

This team has made a name for themselves and is ready to see their efforts pay off.

“No one else has ever done it,” Henderson said. “We’re being put in the history books at Bellaire.”

Bellaire will take on five-time state champions Duncanville on March 8 at the Alamodome in San Antonio at 7 p.m.

“We’re going to make them play our game,” Dutton said. “We’re going in confident and excited, knowing that we have a great chance of winning any game that we are put into.”