By TYLER HENRY
Salina Post contributor
After a tough loss to the Abilene Cowboys on Tuesday, the Southeast of Saline Trojans boys basketball team is back in action and on the road to face the 3-1 Hillsboro Trojans on Thursday night.
Hillsboro is coming off a dominant 85-22 win over Marion on Tuesday, but won their previous two games by just three combined points.
For SES, the name of the game will be finishing shots, something the team did not do in the second quarter against Hesston when they scored just two points.
“Abilene did some good things defensively but we’ve gotta make plays when there are plays to be made,” Trojan head coach Bryson Flax said.
Hillsboro will provide another big challenge for Southeast, but Coach Flax prefers the difficult games to pushover wins.
“I enjoy playing a difficult schedule rather than beating people by 40 or 50 but still making the same mistakes,” he said. “Playing quality opponents has helped us to work on some of our soft spots.”
At the center of everything that Hillsboro does is Sophomore point guard Brekyn Ratzlaff, who utilizes a pass-heavy offensive strategy early in games to open himself up for more scoring opportunities later.
Ratzlaff is surrounded by several other returners from a 2019-20 team that finished the shortened season 15-9.
“They have a lot of experience from a really good team last year and they’re really well coached,” Flax said. “I wouldn’t expect anything but a good game because they’re really going to bring it.”
Tipoff for the boys game against Hillsboro is set to follow the girls game, which will tip off at 6:00
As always, Southeast of Saline basketball games can be heard on KINA (910 AM/107.5 FM).