By TYLER HENRY
Salina Post contributor
After falling to Hesston in the state semifinals, the Southeast of Saline boy's basketball team will return to the Hutchinson Sports Arena one final time on Saturday, looking for a top-three finish at state in back-to-back seasons.
Standing in their way is a Galena team that entered this year’s 3A tournament undefeated as the 1-seed, knocking off Wellsville 38-35 before falling in overtime to Marysville 45-42 on Friday.
The Trojans come into this contest at 23-2 with a chance to further raise the watermark on their best season in program history, while the Bulldogs will hope to avoid falling in back-to-back games after starting their campaign 24-0.
Southeast was as close as it was possible to be to playing for a first-ever state title on Friday, but a three at the horn careened around the inside of the rim and crawled out allowing Hesston to escape by the skin of their teeth.
“Hesston is a darn good team and against someone like that, you have to be good for 32 minutes,” SES head coach Bryson Flax said. “We had a stretch where we weren’t as good defensively and they capitalized on it but that’s playoff basketball at its finest, things have to bounce your way and some things did but some things didn’t.”
While many teams across the state over the years have come into this third-place game with low spirits and energy, the Trojans have always found ways to overcome that, taking third in 2016, 2017 and again last season.
“I hope our guys still feel like they have something to play for,” Flax said. “Last night was kind of emotional in the locker room and our guys put in a lot of time to play in the late game but we have a mature group with a lot of pride, I think they’ll come out and play hard.”
In addition to the mental burden, Southeast will have to overcome tired legs as well after closing out their semifinal contest around 14 hours before this game will tip off.
“It’s tough to play in this game especially after playing such a high-intensity game last night,” he said. “The turnaround is quick and there are a lot of challenges that come with that but a lot of times this game comes down to who has a little extra juice left in the tank.”
Galena has played a defensive-focused brand of basketball all season long, holding their opponents to just 38 points per game, and should present some challenges for the Trojans this afternoon.
“Galena has a lot of size and they play zone for most of their games,” Flax said. “That size in that zone can throw you off and mess with your pace but they’re a talented team. You don’t win 24 games without being good, they can play and it’s going to be a challenge.”
Dictating the tempo will be critical for Southeast this afternoon, as the Trojans look to get right back to playing their own brand of transition-heavy hoops on Saturday.
“I think the pace will be big in this game,” Flax said. “They don’t have any issue playing in the 30s and we have to be able to rebound against their size.”
Tip-off between the Trojans and Bulldogs is set for 2:00 at the Hutchinson Sports Arena and as always, the game can be heard on KINA (910 AM or 107.5 FM) courtesy of Bennington State Bank and Eagle Radio.