By TYLER HENRY
Salina Post contributor
The Southeast of Saline boys basketball team will look to avenge the loss that ended their season against the defending state champion Hesston Swathers.
Hesston lost just one game all of last season en route to a 3A state title over Galena, but will face a steep climb on their journey to defending that crown.
In addition to the usual losses at the hands of graduation, both teams will be without key players due to major injuries as well.
The Trojans will be without juniors Jake Gebhardt and Michael Murray this year, each of whom are rehabbing injuries sustained during football season.
The Swathers will be without their best returning player in Cason Richardson, who averaged 17 points per game en route to being Class 3A co-player of the year. Richardson will be out for the season with a torn ACL.
Despite the injuries, both teams do have returning veterans to lean on early in the season.
The Trojans will have a lineup consisting of four juniors in Drake Augustine, Luke Gebhardt, Eli Sawyers and Nakari Morrical-Palmer while Hesston returns two senior starters in Brayden Schilling and Nick Arnold.
In addition to those veterans, Southeast has a number of players primed for breakout seasons according to head coach Bryson Flax, including Drew Richardson, Kayson Lilley, Danny Kejr and Caden Isaacson.
While many rivalries are forged over long years and annual matchups, the hatred between Southeast and Hesston is new and deep.
In three of the last four meetings between the two, one has sent the other home in the sub-state tournament.
Despite those tensions, Coach Flax sees these regular-season games as a useful measuring stick to see where the team is at early in the season.
“I’m extremely happy that Hesston is consistently on our schedule now,” he said. “We were playing them all the time in sub-state but it’s nice to be able to see them in the regular season knowing that every year we’re going to have to go up against one of the best teams in the state. Games like this help us get a sense of where we are as a team.”
The Trojans will also be on high alert for new stars to emerge on the Swathers side of the ball, paying respect to all five players on the floor at any time.
“In a program like the one that Coach Raleigh has built, there’s always someone ready to step up for this team. They have a lot of offensive weapons coming back and their team defense is always good. We’re expecting full-court pressure and the usual Coach Raleigh things that have been so successful in the past.”
Tip-off between the Trojans and Swathers is set for 7 pm after the girl's game and all SES basketball games can once again be heard on KINA (910 AM or 107.5 FM) courtesy of Eagle Radio.
Road games will also be streamed live on the Salina Post.