By TYLER HENRY
Salina Post contributor
With a 77-59 victory over the 7th-ranked Abilene Cowboys on Tuesday, the Southeast of Saline boys’ basketball team is rolling, having knocked off two ranked opponents in their first four games.
With this win, the top-ranked Trojans advance to 4-0, while the Cowboys fall to 2-2.
Southeast jumped on Abilene right out of the gates, taking a 25-10 lead into the second quarter, and holding the hot-shooting Cowboys to just two made field goals in the quarter.
“It was very important to us to jump on them early and not let them feel comfortable like they could hang in there,” SES head coach Bryson Flax said. “We were able to do that and defense really led to offense in that first quarter. When our guys are locked in defensively we’re pesky and we force a lot of turnovers.”
That defensive tenacity kept up for four quarters as the Trojans cruised to a seemingly effortless 18-point victory.
“We were pretty dang good on defense,” Flax said. “We didn’t have many lapses and they hit some shots but they were too good of a team not to. I thought we executed our game plan to a T, we didn’t get sped up offensively and once we got out on the run the wheels started spinning for our guys.”
It was a special night for Eli Sawyers, who led the way with 29 points, becoming just the fourth player in program history to surpass the 1,000-point threshold in a career.
“I think it means a lot to Eli,” Flax said. “We’ve always had a pretty balanced scoring attack and for him to eclipse that 1,000 mark is so impressive. Eli has been physical enough to play from the beginning but he’s also put in a ton of hours in the gym and it’s cool to see that pay off for him with an individual accolade like that.”
Sawyers was joined in double digits by Nakari Morrical-Palmer, who tacked on 16 as the Trojan frontcourt had their way with Abilene for 32 minutes.
“They had some size but Eli and Nakari are wing players playing the four and five for us,” he said. “We were able to move the ball and take good opportunities and those two guys are really tough to match up with. Abilene has a good team and they’re going to win a lot of games but they couldn’t match up with Eli and Nakari.”
The gauntlet isn’t over for the Trojans just yet, as their next opponent will be a third of the ranked variety in the team’s first five games when SES travels to Hillsboro to battle another preseason #1.
For continuing coverage of SES hoops all season long stay tuned to the Salina Post and follow us on Twitter @spostsports.