By TYLER HENRY
Lead Sportswriter - Salina Post
The Southeast of Saline basketball teams made the most of the final week of their regular season, sweeping Ellsworth on Tuesday and Lyons on Friday to pick up steam ahead of sub-state.
Girls: SE of Saline 63, Lyons 24
The Lady Trojans put this game to bed early, flying out of the gates to a 23-9 lead after just the first quarter.
In the second, Southeast turned up the heat, holding Lyons to just two points on one made field goal to push that lead to 35 at the half.
The third quarter saw more of the same, with SES stretching their advantage to 41, taking the running clock into the fourth quarter and cruising to a 63-24 win.
The Lady Trojans got everyone in on the fun, with nine different players scoring, including four in double digits, led by Taryn Goetz (14), Reagan Duran (12), Kyiah Samuelson (10), and Abigail Pearson (10).
On the Lyons side of the matchup eight different players scored, but Dayanna Gonzalez was the only Lady Lion to total more than five points on the evening.
With this win, the Lady Trojans conclude the regular season 16-5 overall and 8-4 in league play, while Lyons moves to 2-19 and 0-12 respectively.
Boys: SE of Saline 70, Lyons 65
Much like the first battle between these two, things were close by the final buzzer, but the Lyons comeback effort came up short on their home floor.
Southeast came roaring off the starting line, dropping 26 points in the first quarter to take a 12-point lead into the second.
Lyons responded well, outpacing the Trojans 17-13 in the second to cut the halftime deficit to eight, but in the third, Tiernan Ptacek and Adam Thiel helped the Trojans push that advantage back to 15.
Lyons mounted a furious fourth-quarter comeback, trimming the lead to five, but that was all the closer they could get as Southeast held on for a 70-65 win.
Four different Trojans ended the night in double figures, led by Tiernan Ptacek (19), Hendrix Lund (17), Gannon Jacobson (15), and Adam Thiel (12).
Those performances were just enough to offset stellar nights for a trio of Lions in Tegan Link (23), Paco Espinoza (22), and Detrell Stanley (12).
With this result, the Trojans conclude the regular season 7-14 overall, winning three of their final six with Gannon Jacobson back on the floor.
Lyons meanwhile, drops to 8-13 on the year.
You can watch both games on demand below.