By TYLER HENRY
Salina Post contributor
With just one game to go in the regular season, the Southeast of Saline boys’ basketball team will host Republic County, looking to extend their winning streak to nine ahead of sub-state next week.
The Trojans come into this contest at a pristine 18-1, having already secured a second straight league title while the Buffs enter at 3-16.
There’s little doubt that Southeast has been playing their best basketball down the stretch, winning seven of their last eight games by double digits.
“From a maturity standpoint, I’m confident that if we need a stop somebody will make sure we get a stop,” SES head coach Bryson Flax said. “If we need a bucket I know we’ll get the ball into the right spot to give us a chance. I really like how these guys play for one another and that’s been a big key to our success.”
The first time these two met back in early January, the Trojans made a statement on the road, bashing the Buffs in a 52-point win, their largest margin of the season.
“We ran a lot of sets against Republic County the first time we played them,” Flax said. “My hope is that we don’t have to run that many sets and that we can just go in this one. The kids know that on paper we’re by far the better team, we just have to come in and take care of business.”
With this being the only game in a two-week window leading up to the sub-state tournament, the Trojans will shift their focus exclusively within as they look to continue peaking ahead of postseason play.
“This game doesn’t really matter because we’ve already locked down a league title and the #1 seed at sub-state,” he said. “This is more about not taking steps backward no matter the day. Our opponent doesn’t matter, we just have to keep moving forward.”
While Republic County has struggled mightily this season, scoring just 36 points per game while allowing 54 on average, the Trojans will still need to lock in in order to continue pushing their peak ahead of the most important week of the season.
“This is a team that has nothing to lose and they want to be playing good ball right now so you never know what they might throw at you,” Flax said. “We need to continue to be efficient and we haven’t played in a while but good teams show up every day regardless of that so we have to make sure we dictate the pace and control the game.”
Tip-off between the Trojans and Buffaloes is set for 7:30 at Southeast of Saline High School following the girls’ game at 6:00.
Both contests can be heard on KINA (910 AM or 107.5 FM) or streamed live on the Salina Post.