By TYLER HENRY
Salina Post contributor
The Southeast of Saline boys basketball team will travel to Abilene to take on the state-ranked Cowboys in a clash of area schools on Tuesday night.
The Trojans are 2-1 and fresh off back-to-back wins over Smoky Valley and Beloit while the Cowboys are off to an untarnished 3-0 start.
“The best thing I’ve seen from this team is how unselfish they’ve been,” Abilene head coach Erik Graefe said. “When you have 8-9 guys playing you have to share minutes and it can be easy for guys to feel bad about that but they’ve been so supportive of one another so far and that’s what translates into success for us.”
This game will be the fourth of an absolute gauntlet for SES, who will take on their second state-ranked foe in their first four games.
“Our schedule has gotten us up to speed with high-level varsity basketball,” Trojan head coach Bryson Flax said. “It’s so much faster than what some of these guys are used to and I think early on our defense wasn’t bad but it’s improved greatly since then.”
For SES, the offense has run through Eli Sawyers, who has cut through opposing defenses this year, averaging 24 points per game so far and as a result, will be a big focus for Abilene tonight.
“Their game begins and ends with Eli Sawyers,” Graefe said. “He doesn’t force much and he’s unselfish but he can really score. I don’t suspect that we can stop him completely but hopefully, we can rotate fresh defenders onto him and slow them down that way.”
Abilene has found their rhythm offensively as well thanks to the dynamic scoring duo of Kaleb Becker and Triston Cottone, who have combined to average 31 points per game.
“They’re stinking good and they shoot the ball really well,” Flax said. “They have multiple guys that can shoot it from anywhere and they’re a lot better defensively than they were last year, turning over opponents at a really high level.”
Abilene’s defense has held opponents to just 41 points per game this season, and has been excellent in transition, with steals and quick boards leading to big points on the other side.
“They’ve been really active on the defensive end,” Graefe said. “We work on that just like anyone else but these guys have really taken to that and taken pride in getting stops and helping each other out when someone gets beat and that’s led to a lot of stops and scores in transition.”
Because of that smothering pressure, SES will have to take excellent care of the basketball and do what they can to limit the Cowboys to one shot on the other end.
“We can’t afford to turn the ball over with how much pressure they put on teams to speed them up,” Flax said. “We have to continue to share the ball and be efficient and if we do that we’ll give ourselves a chance.”
Tip-off between the Trojans and Cowboys is scheduled for 7 pm at Abilene High School following the girl’s game.
As always, both games can be heard on KINA (910 AM or 107.5 FM) or streamed live on the Salina Post.