By TYLER HENRY
Lead Sportswriter - Salina Post
The Southeast of Saline basketball teams closed out their regular season with a pair of big wins on senior night, defeating the Lady Lions of Lyons 41-27 on the girl’s side and 62-58 on the boy’s side.
Girls: SE of Saline 41, Lyons 27
The girl’s game was far from pretty for 32 minutes but when all was said and done the Lady Trojans did enough defensively to win with confidence in a home blowout.
Uncharacteristically, SES turned the ball over 21 times, matched only by a staggering 28 turnovers from Lyons.
Points generated off of those turnovers would prove to be the difference in this game, and after a slow start that saw them lead just 8-4 after the first quarter, SES began turning their steals into buckets on the other end.
Southeast led by 12 at the intermission and pulled away from there to win 41-27.
Taryn Goetz and Adyson Rohr led the charge for the Lady Trojans scoring eight points apiece, while Aba Pearson and Kyiah Samuelson chipped in seven more each.
Peyton Kruse would go down as the only Lady Lion in double figures, dropping 10 points including three big triples, but it was far from enough as Southeast cruised to the finish line.
With this result, SES moves to 14-5 overall and secures at least a share of the top spot in the NCAA pending Ellsworth’s game with Sacred Heart on Tuesday.
Boys: SE of Saline 62, Lyons 58
The Trojans knew they were in for a fight against a much-improved Lyons squad that they were able to beat in a road comeback earlier this year, and the game lived up to the hype.
A one-point lead for Lyons was all either team could muster in the first quarter, but going into the second, Southeast stagnated, falling to score so much as a free throw for the first five minutes of the second quarter.
Lyons pounced on this opportunity, building a 12-point lead that SES would cut to just six before halftime thanks to a few crucial steals and quick buckets by Gannon Jacobson.
The Lions continued to pressure SES in the third quarter, rebuilding the lead back to 12 and holding a nine-point edge going into the fourth and final quarter.
After a similar drought to the one Southeast went through to start the second, Lyons found their lead whittled down to two midway through the fourth, and SES continued to force the issue, eventually tying the game in the last five minutes.
Jacobson and Adam Thiel were masterful in the closing minutes, combining to score 13 of Southeast’s 21 fourth-quarter points, but it was Grady Gebhardt who hit the games biggest shot, a three-pointer to give SES the lead, on his only attempt of the fourth.
From there, the Trojans were able to pull away for a victory, improving to 10-9 on the year while Lyons fell to 9-10.
Both Southeast teams will open sub-state play next week.
The Lady Trojans lost a three-way coin flip tiebreaker and will be the 5-seed, hosting the 12-seed in Wichita Collegiate at 7:00 on Thursday.
The Trojans are the 9-seed in their bracket and will travel to Garden Plain at 7:00 on Friday.