By CHARLES SPURLOCK
Special to TopSports.news
The sixth-ranked Seaman boys faced off against the De Soto Wildcats Friday night in their final game before the winter break, with the Vikings rallying from a 10-point deficit at halftime and from nine down at the start of the fourth quarter to take 59-53 home United Kansas Conference decision.
Junior KaeVon Bonner led Seaman with 17 points in the Vikings' 59-53 come-from-behind win over De Soto. [File photo/TSN]
"De Soto deserves a lot of credit for the way they shot the ball in the first half,'' Seaman coach Craig Cox said. "We made the adjustment at halftime and it was working, but we shot ourselves in the foot by giving up three offensive rebounds and putbacks. After all of the effort in the third quarter and feeling like we were playing better, we were still down nine points going to the fourth quarter.
"To be able to turn it on, outscoring them 25-10 in the quarter and get it done, was pretty amazing."
Both teams came out shooting well from the field and De Soto closed out the first quarter on a 7-2 run to lead 17-13 heading to the second quarter.
Over the first four minutes of the second quarter, De Soto doubled their lead to 27-19. The Wildcats extended their lead to 10 by halftime and led 31-21 at the break.
Seaman began the third quarter on a 7-2 scoring spurt to cut the lead to 33-28 with five minutes left in the quarter.
The Wildcats responded over the next four minutes, rebuilding their lead back to 43-31 with a minute left in the quarter. The Vikings scored the final three points and trailed 43-34 going into the final quarter.
In a repeat of the start of the third quarter, Seaman outscored De Soto 8-3 to cut the lead to 46-42, but Seaman fouled on a 3-point shot and De Soto made two of three free throws to stretch the lead back to 48-42 with a little over four minutes remaining.
The Vikings cut the lead in half and trailed 52-49 with 1:38 left following two free throws from junior Matthew McConnaughey. De Soto made one of two from the free throw line and junior Landon Wiltz responded with a three-pointer for Seaman, cutting DeSoto’s lead to 53-52 with 1:01 remaining.
On De Soto’s ensuing possession, Bryer Finley stole the ball and went coast-to-coast for a conventional 3-point play, giving Seaman the lead 55-53 with 37.9 seconds left.
With 22.9 seconds left, Seaman committed a foul, but DeSoto missed both free throws.
Junior Griffin Zuniga grabbed the rebound and was fouled, made one of two and Seaman led 56-53. But on the rebound, DeSoto was fouled, but once again, missed both free throws.
Seaman’s McConnaughey was fouled and split a pair of free throws, but Seaman grabbed the offensive rebound and Landon Wiltz made two free throws to extend the lead to 59-53 with 19.1 seconds left. DeSoto was unable to score following a timeout and Seaman won the exciting game.
The Vikings were led by three players in double figures. Junior KaeVon Bonner had 17 points, Bryer Finley followed with 16 and Landon Wiltz tallied 15. Finley also had seven rebounds and five steals.
The Wildcats were also led by three players in double figures. Pierce Krehbiel and Max Johnson scored 13 points apiece and Jayden Lang had 10.
Seaman will travel to Lansing for their first game after the winter break on Friday, January 10.
SEAMAN BOYS 59, DE SOTO 53
De Soto 17 14 12 10 53
Seaman 13 8 13 25 59
DeSoto (2-3,0-2) -- Krehbiel 4-14 2-5 13, Dickinson 0-0 0-0 0, Lang 4-11 2-3 10, Hatfield 0-0 2-2 2, Parks 3-5 2-2 8, Serna 0-0 0-0 0, Lindsey 3-3 0-0 7, Narayan 0-0 0-0 0, Johnson 5-13 1-6 13. Totals 19-46 9-18 53.
Seaman (4-1, 4-1) -- Finley 6-14 3-3 16, Bonner 7-14 3-5 17, Wiltz 5-10 2-2 15, Smith 0-1 0-0 0, Zuniga 1-3 2-4 4, McConnaughey 0-1 3-4 3, Brian 2-3 0-0 4, Scholes 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 21-47 13-18 59.
3-point goals -- De Soto 6 (Krehbiel 3, Johnson 2, Lindsey), Seaman 4 (Wiltz 3, Finley). Total Fouls -- DeSoto 17, Seaman 15. Fouled out -- none.
