By VINCE LOVERGINE
TopSports.news
No. 7 ranked (Class 5A) Seaman boys basketball has now won five of its last six games, moving to 13-3 on the year Wednesday night with a 62-51 home victory over Spring Hill.
Senior KaeVon Bonner led a balanced Seaman attack with 16 points in Wednesday's 62-51 home win over Spring Hill. [File photo/TSN]
“I thought defensively we were really good because they have some quality players that are capable of scoring points and we did a really good job on making everything (difficult) for them,” Seaman coach Craig Cox said. “Then in the second half I thought offensively we had a nice rhythm and flow to help us build that lead in the fourth quarter.”
“I thought it was good from everyone,” said senior Cameron Brian, who had 13 points. “Griffin (Zuniga) was really good on the boards, Landon (Wiltz) does what he always does and gets those corner 3s for us which we use on momentum, KaVeon did a great job facilitating the offense and helping find the open guys and that helped with our success.”
The Vikings built a 6-3 lead in the early going which was pushed to 8-3 after a put-back bucket from senior Matthew McConnaughey. Spring Hill hit a triple to bring it to 8-6 but senior Wiltz followed it up with one of his own, making it 11-6 and Seaman took the 13-7 lead into the second quarter.
Brian would help halt a mini-5-0 run from the Broncos with a three as the Vikings led 16-11 and eventually got their biggest lead of the game, 23-15. Spring Hill and Seaman went cold for a little bit and turned the ball over but Seaman took an eight-point lead into the break, 25-17.
The Vikes would build a 12 point lead in the third quarter after a couple of quick buckets, but Spring Hill went on a 12-4 run, cutting its deficit to just four.
But after that Seaman regained control for good. After Bonner and Wiltz scored five points combined, they led by 10, 42-32 heading into the fourth.
“I thought Matthew McConnaughey contributed on the boards, especially in the first half, and Cameron (Brian) picked up in the second half, which was big for us. He’s a linebacker. He’s got a linebacker mentality. He plays strong and we need that. We need him to be strong going to the boards… that definitely helped limit their second-chance opportunities,” Cox said.
In the fourth stanza, Seaman kept extending its lead. Brian and Wiltz hit one three apiece to put the Vikings up 49-34 and then Wiltz would convert an and-one making it 52-36 with 5:35 remaining in the game.
Bonner then put the dagger in the game with a three with three minutes to play and then the next possession down the court he hit another, as Seaman led by 22 (62-40) and Cox emptied his bench with a little over a minute to play.
“When one person gets going, everybody gets going. When one has success, every one enjoys it and that really fuels our team to have success,” Brian said.
SEAMAN 62, SPRING HILL 51
Spring Hill 6 11 15 19 - 51
Seaman 13 12 17 20 – 62
Spring Hill (9-6) -- Barnett 2 2-2 7, Bruce 5 6-7 17, Miller 0 2-2 2, Hedrick 2 0-0 5, McCormick 1 0-0 2, Harriss 2 0-0 4, Beck 1 0-0 3, Brenner 1 1-1 3, Gebhards 2 0-0 4, Bayer 2 0-0 4
Seaman (13-3) – Wiltz 4 1-1 11, McConnaughey 2 0-0 4, Zuniga 5 0-0 10, Brian 5 1-2 13, Becker 1 1-2 3, LaRosh 1 0-0 2, Bonner 6 2-2 16.
3-point goals -- Spring Hill 4 (Barnett, Bruce, Hedrick, Beck), Seaman 6 (Bonner 2, Brian 2, Wiltz, 2). Total fouls -- Spring Hill 13, Seaman 9 . Fouled out -- none.
