By TYLER HENRY
Salina Post contributor
The Southeast of Saline boys basketball team picked up their sixth straight win on Tuesday night, pulling away late in a 58-41 victory over Beloit.
With this win, the Trojans of SES advance to 13-3 overall and remain a perfect 7-0 in league play while Beloit drops to 11-6 and 5-3.
“To me, this was two good teams that know a lot about each other going at it,” Trojan head coach Bryson Flax said. “They slowed the pace a little bit early and I thought we had some early opportunities that we didn’t capitalize on but I thought the pace switched in our favor and it showed.”
Southeast was led in scoring tonight by the dynamic duo of Eli Sawyers and Nakari-Morrical Palmer, who each tallied 17 in the big win.
With opponents packing the lane to negate traditional paint touches, SES has had to get creative with how they utilize their frontcourt, and the results continue to show from that homework.
“When we weren’t as successful we weren’t as deep in the short corner as we need to be but when we got five to the baseline it really opened up the middle of the floor and we were able to drop some high-low looks to spread the defense,” Flax said.
On the defensive end, Southeast did an immaculate job of taking away star big man Bryce Beisner, who scored a bucket in the first quarter and never found the scorebook again.
Much of that work was done by Caden Isaacson, who was the true unsung hero of tonight’s win.
“I don’t even know if he scored and I think that was Caden’s best performance of the year,” Flax said. “He was all over the place and he stayed physical with their posts down low. He might not grab the rebound all the time but he clears out a heck of a lot of space for someone else to go get it.”
In addition to bringing the Trojans one step closer to their first NCAA league title since 2007, this win also created some much-needed space between SES and Beloit in the sub-state standings, and Southeast will have an opportunity to secure a one-seed if they can win their next two games.
SES will be back in action on Friday when the #10 ranked Trojans return home to host the struggling Minneapolis Lions.
To watch a full replay of both SES games in Beloit click HERE.