By TYLER HENRY
Salina Post contributor
Southeast of Saline and Hesston’s 3A state semifinal game was a 32-minute dogfight filled with big runs, late lead changes, and three consequential shots inside the final 20 seconds.
Trailing by two and with time winding to a close, Eli Sawyers caught the ball at the free-throw line, shook his defender, and knocked down a smooth fadeaway jumper to tie the game at 51 with ten seconds remaining.
After calling timeout, the Swathers broke the Southeast press, firing the ball up the floor to Micah Dahlsten who sped past the rest of the Trojans and laid the ball in to deliver Hesston the lead with just four seconds left.
With their season on the line, SES put the ball in the capable hands of veteran Luke Gebhardt, who carried the ball into the corner and pump-faked to get his defender in the air before launching a three for the win.
The ball looked like it was destined for the nylon but instead, took three caroms off the inside of the rim and bounced out, allowing Hesston to hold on for dear life and advance with a 53-51 victory.
This heartbreaking loss was just the second of the year for the now 23-2 Trojans, as the Swathers avenged their only loss of the campaign.
“There are a few possessions in every game that bounce right or left and those just didn’t go our way,” SES head coach Bryson Flax said. “I thought we played hard, I thought we fought, we just couldn’t get it done.”
Given a chance to do things differently, the Trojans wouldn’t have changed a thing, and there’s no question that Southeast made the right choice putting the ball in the hands of a proven veteran regardless of the result.
“When we had the ball it was going to Luke or Eli and we wanted Luke to go downhill,” Flax said. “I’m proud of him, he took that shot with confidence and it rattled out but they ran the play exactly how we drew it up.”
Sawyers and Gebhardt were the only Trojans in double figures on Friday, with Eli scoring 27, and Luke tacking on 11 more.
On the other end, just five Swathers scored throughout the entire game, but it was just enough to send Hesston through to the state championship game on Saturday.
The Trojans will return to Hutch for one final showdown on Saturday, as Southeast squares off with Galena in this year’s third-place game.
“When we show up we have to be prepared and we have to be ready to compete one more time,” Flax said. “It’s good that these guys get one more chance to play and for a lot of them, it will be the last time they step on the basketball court, certainly together. We just have to find a way.”