By TYLER HENRY
Salina Post contributor
After taking down the top-ranked team in Class 3A to open their season, the Southeast of Saline boys’ basketball team will look to solidify their status as the new top dog on Tuesday when they play host to Smoky Valley.
The Vikings enter this contest at 0-1 after falling to fourth-ranked Abilene from Class 4A 73-52 on Friday, and will be hungry to notch their first win of the season in Gypsum.
That feat will be easier said than done as the Trojans have taken the last five meetings between the two dating back to 2019, including a 57-42 sub-state victory that ended Smoky Valley’s season last year.
It wasn’t all smooth sailing for Southeast in their season opener as the Trojans found themselves down early to the two-time defending 3A champs, but rallied in the second quarter and never looked back, knocking off Hesston 56-46.
“We handled a little adversity with the change in the schedule and then in the game we got hit in the mouth and responded really well,” SES head coach Bryson Flax said. “Our guys understand that a game isn’t three runs, it’s 40-60 possessions on each side and I thought we did a really good job once we settled in.”
While this landmark victory got the Southeast campaign off to a good start, the Trojans still have plenty to tighten up between games one and two after dissecting the film from the win.
“Credit to Hesston, they defended us hard and we knew they would but we turned the ball over too much and a lot of them were unforced because we were trying to do too much,” Flax said. “We can convert at the free throw line better than we did and I thought our defense was good but we had a couple of lapses in the full court.”
Those focal points will take center stage as SES looks to capitalize against a Smoky Valley team still sorting itself out on both sides of the floor.
“They are who they are,” he said. “They’ll try to switch up defenses to muddy the waters a bit but if you allow them to take open looks they’re very capable of knocking those down. In the past, they’ve had one guy that can hit an open shot but this year I think they have 3-4 of those guys.”
Fans of Trojan basketball will remember a horrific performance on the glass in this game a season ago that lit a fire under SES and altered the trajectory of the entire season.
“Last year we gave up 23 offensive rebounds to these guys and we had to totally shift the focus of our practices after that,” Flax said. “We need to get on the glass tonight and avoid giving them extra opportunities.”
The Trojans will once again look to run a gauntlet before Christmas with upcoming matchups against league rivals Beloit and Sacred Heart, #4 Abilene (4A), and #1 Hillsboro (2A) ahead of the break.
“A schedule like this really does prepare you for the postseason,” he said. “We like quality opponents because the goal isn’t to win the first game of the season it’s to win the last game of the season. You have to prepare yourself to be in a situation like that and we like the schedule that we play to do that.”
Tip-off between the Trojans and Vikings is set for 7:30 pm following the girl’s game and as always the game can be heard on KINA (910 AM or 107.5 FM) and streamed live with audio and video on the Salina Post.