By ISAAC DEER
TopSports.news
Seaman completed its regular-season sweep over United Kansas Conference foe Basehor-Linwood on Friday night, edging the Bobcats, 43-42.
Although offensively, it wasn't Seaman's best performance the defense keyed the victory on the Vikings' home court.
Senior Kaeden Bonner led Seaman with 12 points in Friday's 43-42 UKC win over Basehor-Linwood. [File photo/TSN]
In the fourth quarter, with a little over a minute to go, the defense didn't panic, holding its one-point lead.
The Vikings' defense did the job and held Basehor-Linwood standout Tyson Ruud without the game-winning hoop with 4.2 seconds remaining in the conference matchup.
"They got that opportunity in the end with their best player having a good look," Seaman coach Craig Cox said. "We got lucky that the last possession didn't go their way. (Ruud) only scored nine points against us the first time, so we tried to use that same gameplan of making him catch it a little further out, not letting him catch in rhythm, not letting him get a bunch of his back-cut dunk plays that he's capable of doing."
Luckily for Seaman (11-7, 8-6), they had its standout senior duo of Kaeden Bonner and Aron Davis on the court. Kaeden Bonner and Davis have battled their fair share of injuries and adversity this season, so having their production on the court means a lot to Cox and the Vikings.
"We've got to rely on them tremendously," Cox said. "They are combined averaging 31 points a game while as a team, we only average 54. So they are a large percentage of what we do, and when teams really start focusing on them, they are able to make the other guys better. They are both good passers, both unselfish, and they also understand that they have the responsibility to go get points for us."
On Jan. 10, Seaman earned the 48-39 road victory over the Bobcats. Like that day, the scoring didn't come in bunches, and both teams relied heavily on their defensive firepower.
It took Seaman 5:24 to record their first basket and end their offensive drought, but that didn't create substantial problems as Basehor-Linwood only converted two shots until that point.
Neither team had a significant edge, but Basehor-Linwood shooting five of ten from the field helped the Bobcats out, while Seaman stumbled, hitting three of 11.
Basehor-Linwood had an 11-7 lead at the end of the opening quarter, but Seaman was ready to roll heading into the second quarter.
"We struggled a bit early," Cox said. "We had some good looks and took shots that we were confident in, but when the guys shot them, they didn't go in. We were trying to get into more of an attack mode by hunting the paint and either getting a shot at the rim or getting an and-one. We just felt fortunate to be where we were at."
Seaman opened up the second quarter with a 10-5 run. Kaeden Bonner's contested corner 3-point conversion gave Seaman its first lead of the game at the 3:23 mark of the second quarter giving Seaman a 17-16 edge.
After going scoreless in the first quarter, standout Kaeden Bonner had a seven-point quarter which opened up valuable opportunities for the Seaman offense.
Seaman finished the second quarter on a 7-0 run giving the Vikings an eight-point lead, 24-16 going into the halftime break.
"It was good, and we were hoping to build on it," Cox said. "We wanted to see if we could get (the lead) into double figures, but Basehor was very patient, well-disciplined, and they had a gameplan and executed it."
Although Ruud didn't torch Seaman in the first half going two of 11 from the field, Ruud came out of the halftime break on fire. The Washburn commit went four of five and gave the Bobcats the spark they were desperately looking for.
"Those kinds of players (Ruud) are going to get hot, and when they do, their confidence is up,'' Cox said. "But, for the most part, I thought we did well against him. I thought he was a huge factor for (Basehor-Linwood) on defense. We had some good drives, but we forgot at times that the 6-6 kid can get up with his good timing, and he blocked a number of our shots."
Even with Basehor-Linwood's sudden momentum boost, Seaman could stay on track. The Vikings shot five of eight from the field and kept its lead at seven points going into the final quarter.
Basehor-Linwood made the Vikings stress out more for the majority of the fourth quarter. The Bobcats went on an 8-2 run giving Seaman just a 41-40 lead at the 3:02 mark before Cox called a timeout.
In the Bobcat run, the Vikings only shot the ball five times, converting just one shot.
With Seaman holding on to a 41-40 lead with 1:21 left in the game, Davis crashed the basket and made a slick no-look assist to Jack Unruh for a floating two-point shot to give the Vikings a 43-40 lead.
Basehor-Linwood matched Seaman with a basket of their own with under a minute remaining.
The ball was in the Bobcats' hands with under 15.9 seconds to go, but they could not secure the victory against Seaman.
The Vikings would complete the sweep with a 43-42 victory in North Topeka.
Seaman will host crosstown rival Shawnee Heights on Tuesday night.
SEAMAN BOYS 43, BASEHOR-LINWOOD 42.
Basehor-Linwood 11 5 16 10 – 42
Seaman 7 17 15 4 – 43
Basehor-Linwood (6-12, 5-9) – Ruud 7-20 0-0 17, McBride 3-4 0-0 8, Scott 1-1 0-0, Brown 4-6 2-2 10, Blankenship 1-4 0-0 3, Gibbs 1-2 0-0 2.
Seaman (11-7, 8-6) – KaeVon Bonner 3-7 0-0 8, Kaeden Bonner 5-11 0-0 12, B. Finley 1-3 0-0 2, Unruh 1-1 0-0 2, Davis 4-7 3-3 11, Freeman 2-4 0-1 5, Chapman 1-3 0-0 3, H. Finley 0-2 0-0 0. Totals – 17-38 3-4 43
3-point goals – Seaman 6 (KaeVon Bonner 2, Kaeden Bonner 2, Freeman, Chapman), Basehor-Linwood 6 (Ruud 3, McBride 2, Blankenship) Total fouls – Basehor-Linwood 8, Seaman 4. . Fouled out – none. Technical fouls – none.
