By TYLER HENRY
Salina Post contributor
For the first time in a long time, the Southeast of Saline boys’ basketball team found themselves down early to a league opponent as Ellsworth took a 10-6 lead to open the contest.
It didn’t last long.
A 17-0 run quickly erased the early advantage and by the sound of the final buzzer, the Trojans had convincingly taken a 63-42 victory.
“That obviously wasn’t the start we wanted but once we settled in I thought we were good,” SES head coach Bryson Flax said. “We just needed to get the ball to the high post more and every time we did that we found success.”
The trend of Southeast spreading out their scoring continued on Friday night as eight different Trojans found the scoring column including three in double digits led by Nakari Morrical-Palmer (19), Eli Sawyers (11), and Kayson Lilley (11).
“Kayson is playing with a lot of confidence right now and it’s like playing with a sixth starter and our other bench guys bring a lot of energy,” Flax said. “They don’t need to score a ton of points to contribute to our team, saving possessions, boxing out, setting screens, those kinds of things help to make us successful and they’re locked in there.”
With Southeast’s deep bench back in full effect, the Bearcats looked exhausted late, falling behind by 20 points heading into the fourth quarter.
“I thought we did a good job of wearing them out,” he said. “We’re not always going to do that in the first eight minutes but as the game goes on we try and check on how their guys are doing.”
Now, SES will turn their attention to a Tuesday tilt with Sacred Heart, as the Trojans look to bounce their rivals for the second time this season.