By TYLER HENRY
Salina Post contributor
The Southeast of Saline boy's basketball team has been on an absolute bender as of late, and collected their 11th-straight victory in the sub-state semifinals, running the hosts in Russell out of their own gym in a 65-38 rout on Friday.
Despite having their leading scorer in Eli Sawyers on the bench with foul trouble early, the Trojans took a 26-10 lead into the second quarter and never looked back, with the clock running for the whole duration of the fourth.
Nakari Morrical-Palmer looked unstoppable once again, posting 20 points to lead all scorers for a second-straight game.
“Nakari was really good," SES head coach Bryson Flax said. "We had to battle a little bit of adversity with our leading scorer on the bench in that first half but our guys get out and play so hard and we really took off. It’s a testament to our guys and how prepared they are.”
Coming into this contest, many expected a big game out of Russell center Jordayne Buhrle, but Southeast, and more specifically Caden Isaacson held him completely in check, holding the senior to just nine points.
“Caden was physical on the inside defensively and he got their post a step outside of his comfort zone," Flax said. "That kid’s 6-9 and Caden is 5-11 on a good day, he did an excellent job.”
Now, the Trojans will turn their attention to a sub-state championship game on Saturday where they will see another familiar foe in the form of the Beloit Trojans, who they defeated twice during the regular season.
Southeast of Saline will be one of the few teams across the state of Kansas to have both teams playing in a sub-state final on Saturday, and the Russell gym could very well be packed purple come tip-off of the first game.
“It’s going to be fun, our girl’s team played well last night and we took care of business tonight," Flax said. "Beloit is Beloit and any time you have to try to beat a team three times in one season it’s difficult but it does make our preparation a little more simple.”
For continuing coverage of Trojan and Lady Trojan hoops all postseason long stay tuned to the Salina Post.