By TYLER HENRY
Salina Post contributor
With a chance to win their sixth straight game and move one step closer to yet another league title, the Southeast of Saline boys’ basketball team will travel to Minneapolis for a rematch with the Lions.
The Trojans come into this contest at 15-1 ranked as the #3 team in Class 3A while the Lions enter at 2-15.
Southeast is also coming off of one of their best defensive performances of the season after putting some distance between themselves and Beloit with a 41-33 win on Tuesday.
“I thought it was a great game for us,” SES head coach Bryson Flax said. “Not every game is going to be us out on the run getting layups in transition, we’re going to have to earn buckets and I thought we got good shots against them, we just weren’t able to knock them down but our defense saved us, that was really encouraging to see.”
The first time these two met, the Trojans trounced Minneapolis 69-27, but Southeast knows that these league games are rarely ever as simple the second time around.
“We’re expecting a lot of effort from their guys,” Flax said. “They have nothing to lose. They’re going to come out with confidence, let it fly, and try to muddy up the game on both ends. We know they’re going to give us their best shot.”
While the Lions have continued to struggle in the win column, the team has looked much better in many aspects of the game, and will be hungry to prove it against a league foe on Friday.
“They rebound the ball better than they did early,” he said. “Teams were getting a ton of second chance opportunities against their zone and guys were out of position a lot but they’ve been better about that and they’ve played some teams tough.”
Despite making these improvements, Minneapolis still struggles in stretches to take care of the basketball, and this game has the potential to be another track meet if SES can push the pace.
“Speeding them up will be big for us,” Flax said. “We need to be going into postseason form and playing our best basketball right now. I feel like after Tuesday we’re really close to that defensively, offensively we’ve gotta get some of our guys who have been struggling going and gain that consistency down the stretch.
Tip-off between the Trojans and Lions is set for 7:30 following the girl's game at 6:00.
Both games can be heard on KINA (910 AM or 107.5 FM) or streamed with live audio and video on the Salina Post.