By TYLER HENRY
Salina Post contributor
The Southeast of Saline boy’s basketball team bulldozed their way through the opening round of the Sterling Tournament, collecting their seventh straight win over Smoky Valley in four years with a 63-38 victory.
The Trojans, now 9-0, will advance to the bracket semifinals to take on Scott City on Thursday while the Vikings head to the consolation bracket to face Lyons.
Much like the first meeting between the two back in December Southeast was a little slow out of the gates, holding a 14-8 lead after the first quarter, but once they took control they never looked back, handing Smoky Valley their first loss in five games.
“Early on I thought our help defense was good but our secondary help was late and they hung around,” SES head coach Bryson Flax said. “When we were able to clean that up we got out on the run but we also left a lot out there around the rim early.”
A big third quarter helped to spur the Trojan’s efforts as Southeast outscored Smoky Valley 20-9, with five different players contributing three or more points.
SES also received a sizable boost from the efforts of Nakari Morrical-Palmer on the glass, who saved possession after possession for the Trojans, allowing them to dominate in second-chance points.
“Nakari gets up on the glass and intentionally tips the ball back out to a lot of teammates,” Flax said. “He’s been really good for us and once we settled in against their zone we really got things moving.”
The Trojans were led in scoring by Morrical-Palmer (16) and Eli Sawyers (14) who once again proved to be too much for Smoky Valley to handle.
Next up, the Trojans turn their attention to a matchup with Scott City on Thursday at 5:30, looking to beat the Beavers and punch their ticket to the tournament final on Friday.
“I had a chance to watch Scott City on film and they can shoot the basketball,” Flax said. “They have some size and I’ll be anxious to see how the matchups go and who they put on Eli and Nakari. On film they looked pretty good and in person they looked good, it’ll be a challenge for us.”
For continuing coverage of both SES basketball teams all week in Sterling stay tuned to the Salina Post.