By TYLER HENRY
Salina Post contributor
The Southeast of Saline boy's basketball team has been rolling down the home stretch of the season, winning 11 straight games ahead of Saturday's sub-state championship bout.
After decimating Phillipsburg 77-48 on Tuesday and Russell 65-38 on Friday, both with running clocks in the fourth quarter, the Trojans will now turn their attention to a familiar league foe, as Southeast prepares to go a third round with Beloit.
After starting their season with back-to-back losses, Beloit has been on a tear as well, posting a record of 17-3 in their next 20 games, including a 74-40 quarterfinal victory over Hoisington, and a 50-33 semifinal win over Norton.
Unfortunately for the orange Trojans, two of those three losses came at the hands of SES, who defeated them 68-46 in December, and 41-33 in early February.
Coming into this one, Southeast is ranked as the #2 team in Class 3A with an overall record of 21-1 while Beloit enters as the bracket 2-seed at 17-5.
Each passing matchup with Beloit has gotten progressively tougher over the last two years, and SES still holds a six-game winning streak in the series but will be on guard tonight on a neutral floor.
"Credit to Ryan Eilert, Beloit has gotten a ton better throughout the year," SES head coach Bryson Flax said. "They truly are playing their best ball now. Any time your play Beloit it’s a high-intensity ball game and we’re going to have to settle in early and just go compete."
Against the size of Beloit in the post, it will be imperative just as it was in the first two meetings, for the Trojans in purple to crash the boards hard, and to keep the dynamic duo of Bryce Beisner and Wyatt Broeckelman off balance for 32 minutes.
"We have to defend at a high level, make sure we’re in the correct spots, and make a concerted effort to get on the glass," Flax said.
Tip-off between the two Trojans is set for 7:00 at Russell High School, with the winner walking away with a punched ticket to Hutch next week.
As always, the game can be heard on KINA (910 AM or 107.5 FM) or streamed live on the Salina Post courtesy of Bennington State Bank.
For continuing coverage of SES hoops all postseason long, stay tuned to the Salina Post.