By TYLER HENRY
Salina Post contributor
The 2nd-ranked Southeast of Saline boys’ basketball team made a statement on opening night.
The statement was simple, but loud and came in the form of a 56-46 victory over the back-to-back defending state champs, and #1-ranked Hesston Swathers.
Class 3A has a new top dog.
From the get-go, the circumstances surrounding this game were strange as a second-quarter power outage during the SES girl’s game forced the action to move to the campus of Kansas Wesleyan in Salina.
Ahead of a huge tip-off, the Trojan coaching staff emphasized the importance of focus, something the veteran-heavy Southeast locker room took to heart.
“I told them before we got on the bus to come over here that the team that can stay locked in would have a huge advantage,” SES head coach Bryson Flax said. “They knew we had to stay locked in and we did a great job of that. We have a lot of leaders on this team and I didn’t know that, I thought we had one or two but we have more than that.”
Out of the gates, Hesston looked crisp, jumping out to an early seven-point lead before Nakari Morrical-Palmer went to work, closing the gap to one at the quarter break.
“Nakari has that attribute,” Flax said. “He doesn’t have to score 30 to make a huge impact in a game. We talked about 50/50 balls and bench energy and how contagious everything is and I think that proved true tonight. We hit the glass hard and we weren’t perfect but that energy was contagious.”
From there, the Trojans took control of the game and never looked back, leading by six at the half and by 13 going into the final quarter.
When all was said and done, Southeast had held one of the best basketball dynasties in the state to just 46 points, handing the Swathers their fifth loss in their last 75 games.
“A big key to our defensive effort was in how we crashed the glass,” he said. “They didn’t get a lot of second chance opportunities. We got out on the perimeter and made Proctor make plays over the top of us.”
Offensively the Trojans were led by Kayson Lilley with 14 points, as the three-point specialist started his day 4/4 from the floor and 3/3 from beyond the arc.
“We tell Kayson all the time that he has the green light,” Flax said. “With as much attention as Eli and Nakari get there are a lot of eyes on those boys in the paint and they’re all willing passers. Kayson has stepped up in a leadership role this year, he’s been a lot more vocal and he takes that role strongly.”
Southeast will have more opportunities to prove themselves next week when the Trojans host Smoky Valley on Tuesday before hitting the road for Beloit on Friday.
For continuing coverage of Trojan hoops all season long, stay tuned to the Salina Post and follow us on Twitter @spostsports.