By TYLER HENRY
Salina Post contributor
For a second straight season, the Southeast of Saline boys will be one of eight teams battling it out at the Hutchinson Sports Arena for a 3A state basketball championship.
While just getting to this tournament is a rare enough feat in and of itself, the Trojans will be one of just three teams making a repeat appearance at state, alongside the reigning champs in Hesston and this year’s one-seed in Galena.
This also comes on the heels of an appearance in the state semifinals for football this fall, as well as another state cross country championship for the girls, and runner-up finish for the boys.
“Everybody is extremely excited,” SES head coach Bryson Flax said. “It’s not often that you get here once and it’s even less frequent to see a team go back. This is great for our kids, it’s great for our school and it’s great for our community. Everything at Southeast in general is in a really good place right now.”
The Trojans will enter this year’s 3A tournament as the 2-seed at 22-1, their lone loss coming at the hands of another state bound program in Hugoton, who will make their run at a 4A title this week.
While it wasn’t always discussed in the Southeast locker room, this week's action at the Sports Arena is what the Trojans have been working for since the season tipped off back in December.
“Our goal was definitely to get back to Hutch,” Flax said. “When we left here last year we had some mixed emotions. We were happy with how we produced all year and took third but there was still a bit of a sour taste from being a quarter away from playing in the championship. Everybody has been locked in from day one and even if we haven’t talked about it we’ve been working toward this.”
This year’s team has become synonymous with their “showtime” play, with an emphasis on transition offense, great ball movement, and flashy play above the rim.
While all of these things have certainly played into the Trojan’s brand of basketball, their commitment on the other end of the floor has allowed them to take another step forward this year, holding opponents to just 41 points per game while averaging 64 themselves.
“The way we’ve been locked in defensively is the best thing I’ve seen from these guys all year,” he said. “Last season we’d go through stretches where we weren’t very good on that end. Our guys have really bought in even more and defensively we’ve been really solid all year.”
While Southeast features one of the deepest benches at this year’s tournament, there’s no doubt that the two headed monster of Eli Sawyers and Nakari Morrical-Palmer has been a big part of what’s gotten SES to this point, with the dynamic duo averaging just shy of 30 points, 14 rebounds and 7 assists on any given night.
“Eli’s skill set and ability to make others around him better is huge and I think he’s an underrated defender,” Flax said. “Then you’ve got Nakari, who has great vision, finds people at the right time and is so athletic that he gives himself chances to get in passing lanes and steal rebounds.”
Beyond those two, SES is stacked with a roster that features such prominent pieces as Luke Gebhardt, Drake Augustine, Danny Kejr, and Kayson Lilley, and that depth will be primed to pounce when the tournament begins on Thursday evening.
“We’re going to have the same rotations and expectations that we’ve had all year,” Flax said. “For all of our guys, we defend first, we rebound at a high level and offensively we live and die by how well we pass the ball. We still need many contributions from everyone to make a run and they know what I expect out of them.”
While last year’s Trojans told the story of a team overjoyed to be one of the final eight with a lot of upside, this year’s Trojans will walk into Hutchinson with a ton of experience under their belts, and unfinished business left to complete.
“With all of these tournaments you have to win the first one,” Flax said. “We want to guarantee ourselves two more games but I’d be lying if I said our guys weren’t locked in on winning a championship. Ever since last year’s semifinals that’s been the goal and they’ve done a really great job of preparing, now it’s time to go out there and compete.”
Southeast of Saline will kick off their run at 6:00 on Thursday when they square off with the 7-seed in 19-4 Perry-Lecompton.
For continuing coverage of Trojan hoops all throughout the state tournament, stay tuned to the Salina Post.