By TYLER HENRY
Lead Sportswriter - Salina Post
On Thursday night, Southeast of Saline pulled off the upset of the tournament in a shocking 57-47 victory over the Hesston Swathers.
Less than 48 hours later, the Trojans were at it again, defeating Santa Fe Trail 57-51 to punch their ticket to a third straight 3A state tournament.
“Nobody believed that this team could get it done but this team believed otherwise,” SES head coach Bryson Flax said. “We lost nine games but of the six teams we lost to five of them are going to state and the only one that’s not is Hesston. The guys kept believing and it wasn’t pretty tonight but we were able to go on a big run and I’m so proud of this group.”
At 14-9, the Trojans will be the 7-seed at this year’s state tournament in Hutch, while Santa Fe Trail’s season draws to a close at 13-9.
It was far from a pretty start for Southeast, who found themselves struggling on offense and behind 11-5 at the end of the first quarter.
From there, the Trojans exploded, rattling off a 17-5 run to take a 24-19 lead into the break.
“I saw some body language from our guys that I didn’t love, I just wanted to see them stay composed,” Flax said. “Things aren’t always going to fall your way and you can’t stay too high or too low but we did a good job of getting back on track.”
The Chargers battled back and cut the lead to four going into the fourth, but Southeast was able to keep them at arms length to claim the sub-state title 57-51.
Three different Trojans finished the night in double figures, as Owen Bailey (18) led the way with four first-half threes, backed up by Gannon Jacobson (17), and Danny Kejr (11).
Santa Fe Trail meanwhile, got 15 points from Lane Workman, 13 from Garin Kincaid, and 11 from Jalen Smith, but failed to receive a single point from their bench all game.
While many will once again be counting SES out next week, the Trojans are used to being overlooked, and will set out to prove the doubters wrong once again when the ball goes in the air on Wednesday.
“These guys are all so stinkin special and I’ll never forget these moments,” Flax said. “We’re not going to be a high seed but we’ll be prepared and ready for whatever’s next.”
The Trojans will match up with the 2-seed in Cheney (21-2) in the 3A quarterfinals at 4:00 this Wednesday.