By TYLER HENRY
Salina Post contributor
The Southeast of Saline Trojans 2020-21 campaign came to an end tonight at the hands of the second-ranked Hesston Swathers by a final score of 51-40.
This game was much closer than the first meeting between the two in the season opener that saw Hesston on top 71-34, but SES couldn’t complete the upset, wrapping up their season at 13-8.
Hesstons defense allowed just five Trojans to score tonight, led by Jaxson Gebhardt with 13 points.
The Trojans made a big push to end the first half and kept the momentum going to begin the second, but even a 13-0 run wasn’t enough as Hesston pulled away late.
“I thought we did a really good job in the first half,” SES head coach Bryson Flax said. “We knew they were going to be physical and we weren’t going to turn this into a track meet so I thought we did a fantastic job defensively early, we just couldn’t make enough buckets as the game went on.”
On the Hesston side, the Swathers got 16 points from Brayden Schilling which proved instrumental in the semi final win.
The Swathers will move on to face Haven in the sub-state final tomorrow at 5pm.
For the Trojans, this offseason will see the departure of five seniors in Jaxson Gebhardt, Bryant Banks, Eli Harris, Camden Spano-Lund and Grant Stumpf, a corps that has done so much for this program over the last four years.
“I love each and every one of these guys that without them this program isn’t where it is today,” Flax said. “I’m proud of all of them and they’ve got bright futures ahead of them whether it’s baseball, football, basketball or academically. Those guys are very special to me because they’re the first group I’ve had with me for all four years.”
Thank you for staying with us here at the Salina Post throughout the course of the 2020-21 Trojan and Lady Trojan basketball seasons.