By TYLER HENRY
Lead Sportswriter - Salina Post
The Southeast of Saline basketball teams continued their march through the post-tournament portion of their schedule, sweeping another league foe in Minneapolis on Thursday night.
The SES girls held on to defeat a strong Minneapolis team 57-46, while the Trojans decimated the Lions 74-31.
Girls: Minneapolis 46, SE of Saline 57
In a game that could very well decide who comes out on top of this year’s NCAA, Southeast knew they would be in for a battle, but composed themselves and buckled down defensively to stop the Lady Lion advance.
This game stayed tied through the first quarter, and the teams were separated by just six after two, and seven after three, but Southeast was able to keep Minneapolis at arms length with six makes from the free throw line down the stretch.
Minneapolis showed real fight despite being without two of their best players in Maci McClure and Braedee Weatherman, but without those two starters, lacked the firepower needed to match Southeast.
Aba Pearson led the charge for the Lady Trojans, tying her career high with 20 points on the night. Pearson was joined in double figures by Regan Duran (11) and Kyiah Samuelson (10).
On the other side of the matchup Baylee Randall-Hurt led all Lady Lions with 18 points but was the only player in double figures on that side of the matchup.
With this result SES moves to 11-3 and remains atop the NCAA at 6-0 while Minneapolis falls to 9-3 and 4-2 respectively.
Boys: Minneapolis 31, SE of Saline 74
For the second time in as many games, Southeast of Saline would start fast and never look back, leading Minneapolis 36-14 at the half before slamming the gas in a huge second half.
Despite a dismal 3-7 start, Southeast has come screaming back in recent weeks, winning four straight games to even their ledger at 7-7.
Turnovers would prove to be a critical difference in this game, as the Trojans turned the ball over just three times while foreign 12 turnovers against the Lions.
Southeast looked great defensively, holding Minneapolis to just nine made field goals for the entire game, forcing the Lions to get most of their points at the charity stripe.
The Trojans were led in scoring by Gannon Jacobson (24), Owen Bailey (12,) and Tiernan Ptacek (11), on a night where ten different players contributed at least a bucket.
Minneapolis star Owen Just was held to just 12 points on the night, with no other Lions contributing double-digit scoring.
In addition to their 7-7 overall record, the Trojans are now 4-2 in league play, while the Lions slide to 4-9 and 3-4 on the year.