Ryon West has been a standout on the Valley boys basketball team, but a broken leg suffered late in the season has kept him on the sidelines for the playoffs. Bill Stewart/Kennebec Journal

AUGUSTA — He’d been given a warning that something was in the works, but seeing was truly believing for Valley junior Ryon West.

When the Cavaliers emerged for pre-game activities this week at the Augusta Civic Center emblazoned with both West’s name and his No. 13 on every one of the warmup shirts, West felt all the feels.

“Amazing,” West said following Valley’s Class D South semifinal Wednesday. “It really surprised me, but it made me happy.”

Valley, which meets Forest Hills in the regional final at 2:45 p.m. on Saturday, has been without their captain West since Jan. 28.

In the fourth quarter of the second game of a weekend doubleheader at Vinalhaven that day, West broke both his tibia and fibula while chasing down a Vinalhaven fast break. He slid across the end line, jammed his foot against the wall and suffered a gruesome injury, which required a significant amount of surgery for repairs.

All this in a game the Cavaliers led by nearly 30 points.

“He is truly the glue that holds this team together,” said Valley coach Mike Staples, who also coaches Valley’s boys soccer team, for which West is the starting central midfielder. “He’s our cheerleader, he’s the motivator, he’s the engine of the team. When he’s out there diving on balls, stealing balls, getting layups against guys twice his size, screaming — he gets the guys up.

“He’s the motor.”

Members of the Valley boys warm up prior to a game this week in shirts to honor injured teammate Ryon West. Travis Barrett/Kennebec Journal

The Cavaliers have been without their emotional leader since. Prior to every game since the season finale, the team has worn the same warmup shirts in honor of their spark plug.

“When he got hurt, it was a big upset,” said freshman point guard Louis Harry. “He’s the one that pushes us. The next games that we had after that, our energy was down without him. We’re getting to the point where our energy is coming back, but part of that’s because he’s on the bench cheering us on.”

The toughness and grit in West’s game, the Cavaliers knew that part well, watching him night after night expel the proverbial 110 percent.

That West immediately returned to his feet and tried to walk the injury off — until his coaches met him across the court and finally stopped him — showed his grit and determination.

The youngest by nearly a generation (West said his siblings are all in their 30s now), West didn’t acquire his pit bull-like acumen from watching family members who previously donned Valley jerseys. No, his ethic comes from somewhere else.

“It’s all from me,” West laughed. “I cried when it happened, I’m not going to lie. I cried not because it hurt, but because I was worried about my basketball career.”

Valley lost twice during the regular season to Forest Hills, by seven at home in the season opener in early December and by 10 on the road on the final day of the holiday break.

The Cavaliers will need to channel their inner West to finally clear the Tigers, who have been the toast of Class D South for half a decade now.

“It sucks to have to watch.” West said. “I’d much rather be on the court. But it’s been fun watching them thrive here, play as a team and have fun. There’s some guys out there really picking up the slack with me gone, but they knew they had to.

“There’s some things I bring to the team that others done, and they’ve really picked it up.”

West said he is healing well ahead of schedule and should be ready to go again in time for summer basketball.

Don’t expect him to change his all-out approach.

“It’s just not me,” said West, who it should be pointed out got to ball first and stopped a would-be Vinalhaven score on the season-altering play. “I’m always out there trying to do everything I can. It was a freak accident. I mean, if I could re-do it that one time and not chase that guy down, I would.”