By TYLER HENRY
Salina Post contributor
After dropping their season opener to the #1 team in 3A on Friday, the Southeast of Saline Trojans boys basketball team has a great chance to rebound tonight against the Smoky Valley Vikings.
This will be the first game of the season for Smoky Valley, who had their game against Abilene cancelled due to Abilene not having enough practices to be eligible to begin their season.
The Vikings finished last season 6-15, and graduated several big starters from that team.
Tonight, the lineup for Smoky Valley will likely include four seniors in Ryan Heline, Ty Miller, Jake Lucas and Brandt Heble, and one junior in Havel Lysell-Stewart.
For the Trojans, tonight will be a great opportunity to put into play the lessons learned from the loss to Hesston on Friday.
“I didn’t think we could find any rhythm offensively or defensively on Friday,” SES head coach Bryson Flax said. “We stayed a step behind and credit Hesston, they were as good as advertised but you can’t turn the ball over 25 times against quality opponents.”
Against an opponent with no film in 2020-21, things are sure to be interesting at Southeast of Saline High School tonight.
“Smoky is interesting because they haven’t played a game yet but we can still focus on what we need to do,” Flax said. “We need to be better in transition and rebound a little better. Offensively we need to get the ball into the paint and make better decisions when we get there.”
The Trojans and Vikings will tip off following the girls game which is scheduled for 6pm tonight in Gypsum. As always, Eagle radio is the home for SES Trojans and Lady Trojans basketball and games can be heard live on KINA (910 AM and 107.5 FM).