By TYLER HENRY
Salina Post contributor
The Southeast of Saline boys basketball team will look to close out their regular season on a ten-game winning streak as they travel to Republic County to take on the 8-11 Buffaloes.
The Trojans will also be in search of a perfect 10-0 league sweep of the NCAA after securing the league outright and locking down the #1 seed at sub-state last week.
“It’s never been talked about as a goal with this team but an undefeated season against the league would be a stepping stone towards what we’re ultimately trying to accomplish,” SES head coach Bryson Flax said. “We have to keep focused on that bigger goal.”
Southeast has come a long way since the gauntlet that kicked off their season and in addition to playing some of their best basketball, the team has played their best defense throughout this winning streak.
“The guys have really bought into what we want to do defensively,” Flax said. “We still go off the beaten path every once in a while but I’ve been really pleased with how locked in they’ve been getting after teams on that side of the ball.”
The Trojans defeated Republic County 53-31 back in January but the Buffs have gained some steam since then, winning two of their last three including a shock upset of the #7 Sacred Heart Knights at home.
“We have to be locked in because we want as much positive momentum going forward as we can get,” he said. “This is a team that just beat Sacred Heart so they haven’t thrown in the towel and they’ve got nothing to lose on Tuesday.”
The biggest task for the SES defense will once again be in slowing senior standout Blake Aurand, who averages a double-double with 12 points and 12 boards per game.
“We’ve got to stop the Aurand kid,” Flax said. “He’s a big body inside who can score and they’ve been shooting it better from the perimeter. We have to limit their clean looks and we can’t play a game in the 40s so we need to push the pace and get some easy ones in transition.”
On offense SES will need another big night from their big three of Eli Sawyers, Nakari Morrical-Palmer, and Luke Gebhardt, to establish some momentum before a week-long break ahead of sub-state.
Tip-off between the Trojans and Buffaloes is set for 7 pm following the girl’s game at 6:00. As always, both games can be heard on KINA (910 AM or 107.5 FM) or streamed live on the Salina Post.
*Photo courtesy of Jessica Sprecker