By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
EMPORIA -- It had been 81 years since Seaman's boys basketball team had advanced to a state semifinal, but the Vikings had no trouble finding the way.
Five days after taking a 17-point win at No. 1 West seed Hays, Seaman rolled to a 54-43 win over Kapaun Mt. Carmel, the No. 1 seed in the Class 5A state tournament, in Wednesday's opening first-round game at White Auditorium.
Ty Henry slams home a dunk to cap a 21-point night in Seaman's 54-43 Class 5A state quarterfinal win over No. 1 seed Kapaun Mt. Carmel Wednesday at Emporia. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
"Just kind of like Hays, we came out firing,'' Seaman senior Ty Henry said. "We always like to get off to a good start. It kind of makes everything easier and we just kind of built on it from there.
"They made a little run and came back, but we built it back up and cruised out from there.''
With the win Seaman will play in the boys state semifinals for the first time since 1941. The 16-7 Vikings, who posted their ninth straight victory, will play at 2 p.m. Friday against defending 5A state champion Maize, which rallied in the second half to take a 53-47 win over Highland Park.
Kapaun Mt. Carmel, which had won 21 straight games since a five-point loss to Maize in the first game of the season, jumped out to a 4-0 lead Wednesday, but Henry started off a 21-point night with a 3-pointer and junior Aron Davis put Seaman ahead 5-4 with a hoop at the 4:22 mark of the first quarter and the Vikings never trailed again.
"I was a little worried at the beginning when they came out and scored the first two baskets,'' Seaman coach Craig Cox said. "If they had got a third one I was going to get a time out, just to settle us down just because we didn't want for them to get too far ahead too early and get comfortable.
"Fortunately we made a basket and hit another one and took the lead and then just really settled in and did a nice job.''
Seaman ended the quarter on a 15-2 run to take a 15-6 lead into the second quarter.
The Vikings boosted their lead to 24-11 midway through the second quarter on back-to-back 3-pointers from junior Kaeden Bonner and senior Gavin Wilhelm and Seaman equaled that 13-point lead on a Henry basket with just over three minutes left in the half.
Kapaun Mt. Carmel (21-2) fought back to get as close as five before Davis scored with three seconds remaining to give the Vikings a 30-23 halftime edge.
The Crusaders rallied to within a point (32-31) with four minutes led in the third, but the Vikings quickly regained control, ending the quarter with a 7-1 run to maintain their seven-point halftime advantage entering the the fourth quarter.
"That was a key time,'' Cox said. "We took a time out and just talked about, 'Hey, we've still got the lead, let's have a couple of good possessions and make sure we get stops,' and our guys did that.''
Seaman opened the final period with back-to-back buckets from Henry and senior Mateo Henry to push the lead to 11 with 6:23 remaining and the Vikings went up by 12 (46-34) on a Wilhelm 3-pointer with 5:34 left.
Wilhelm scored again to give Seaman a 50-36 edge with 2:50 remaining.
The Viikings missed four straight free throws to give the Crusaders life, but Kapaun was unable to take advantage, getting no closer than 10, and Bonner hit a pair of charities and Henry followed with a stuff at the 56-second mark to clinch the victory.
Junior Kaeden Bonner puts up a shot in Seaman's 54-43 Class 5A state win over Kapaun Mt. Carmel Wednesday at Emporia. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
Henry hit 9 of 10 shots from the floor, including all three of his 3-point attempts, to lead all scorers while Bonner added 10 points and Wilhelm eight.
"Obviously Ty Henry was great and our defense was outstanding,'' Cox said.
Davis only scored four points in the game but tied for game-high rebounding honors with nine and blocked a game-high five shots.
Kapaun's Henry Thengvall, a 6-foot-6 senior, scored 19 points and grabbed nine rebounds and junior William Anciaux added seven points, but no other Crusader had more than four points.
SEAMAN BOYS 54, KAPAUN MT. CARMEL 43
Seaman 15 15 9 15 -- 54
Kapaun Mt. Carmel 6 17 9 11 -- 43
Seaman(16-7) -- Hyman 3-4 0-2 6, Henry 9-10 0-1 21, Bonner 3-9 3-5 10, Wilhelm 3-8 0-0 8, Davis 2-2 0-0 4, Freeman 0-0 0-0 0, Griess 2-4 1-1 5, Thompson 0-0 0-0 0, Phillips 0-0 0-0 0, Finley 0-0 0-0 0, Chapman 0-0 0-0 0, Barta 0-0 0-2. Totals 22-37 4-11 54.
Kapaun Mt. Carmel (21-2) -- Anciaux 2-6 3-3 7, W. Thengvall 1-6 2-4 4, Porter 2-9 0-0 4, Schmitz 1-3 0-0 2, H. Thengvall 6-17 6-8 19, Shibley 1-4 2-2 4, N. Thengvall 0-0 0-0 0, Dalian 0-0 0-0 0, Johnson 1-1 0-0 3, Charles 0-2 0-1 0, Keller 0-2 0-0 0, Powers 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 14-50 13-18 43.
3-point shots -- Seaman 6-14 (Henry 3-3, Wilhelm 2-5, Bonner 1-5, Griess 0-1), Kapaun Mt. Carmel 2-12 (H. Thengvall 1-6, Johnson 1-1, Keller 0-2, W. Thengvall 0-1, Porter 0-1, Shibley 0-1). Total fouls -- Seaman 16, Kapaun Mt. Carmel 14. Fouled out – none. Technical fouls -- none.
