By TYLER HENRY
Salina Post contributor
The Salina South boys basketball team will be back in action on Saturday looking to punch their ticket to state at Hays.
The Cougars enter this game at 15-3 ranked as the fifth best team in class 5A while the Indians come in at a perfect 21-0 as the top team in the class.
Hays defeated Great Bend 58-38 to get to the final while South knocked out their cross-town rival in the Salina Central Mustangs 46-33.
“Our resilience really impressed me in that game,” South head coach Jason Hooper said. “We were getting the looks that we wanted, we just couldn’t get one to fall but the kids never hit the panic button, they just continued to guard and eventually we were able to come back and get the win.”
The Cougars played a brutal gauntlet of opponents down the stretch and ultimately dropped four of their last six to end the season, but all of those losses were by close margins and have prepared South for a game like this.
“The emphasis for us down the stretch was to realize that we were still playing really good basketball but we weren’t doing the little things to get us over the hump,” Hooper said. “I felt like we weathered the storm and kept a good attitude and these are the games that prepare us for what we have next.”
Hays runs a majority of its offense through two of the best post players in the state in Jace Linenberger and Daylen Schwarz, but remains a dangerous team from anywhere on the floor.
“They’re a very disciplined team with some nice bigs in the post and some guards that compliment that well so we have to guard 1 through 5,” he said. “Defensively they do a lot of switching and sometimes it’s hard to tell what they’re in.”
Tip off between the Cougars and Indians is scheduled for 3:00 tomorrow afternoon at Hays High School.
Stay tuned to the Salina Post for continuing coverage of the Cougars and Lady Cougars throughout the sub-state and state tournaments.