Seabury boys surge past Maranatha in sub-state opener

Bishop Seabury senior Mikey Wycoff comes up with a steal in the second half of the Seahawks' 69-45 sub-state quarterfinal win over Maranatha on Monday at BSA. Wycoff led the Seahawks with 23 points.

The Bishop Seabury Academy boys basketball team did not have much of a problem putting up points during the regular season, and that was the case again in the Seahawks’ 69-45 win over Maranatha Christian Academy on Monday in the Class 2A sub-state quarterfinals.

A bulk of the offense for the No. 3-seeded Seahawks (16-4, ranked No. 5 in 2A) came as a result of their stifling zone defense and three-quarter court press, as they forced Maranatha into 22 turnovers.

Senior Mikey Wycoff was able to get his hands in the passing lanes to ignite the Seahawks in transition, and led all scorers with 23 points.

“We just started picking it up on defense in practice, and it’s transferred over to the games,” Wycoff said. “It’s allowed us to get out and run more.”

Wycoff was frustrated the Seahawks did not put up even more points against the Eagles, and he felt they would have if they would have shot the ball better from behind the arc. The Seahawks shot 28.6 percent (8-of-28) from 3-point range. One of those, however, did come on a half-court buzzer-beater from Wycoff to end the first quarter.

Wycoff was able to create easy buckets for his teammates as well, and junior Zach McDermott was one of the main beneficiaries. Wycoff passed up the chance at another fast-break layup early in the third quarter when he threw a behind-the-back pass to McDermott to set up an easy two. McDermott joined Wycoff in double figures with 16 points.

“It’s a lot of fun. We’ve been playing together for a long time,” McDermott said. “That’s just chemistry and knowing where I’m at and me knowing where he’s at the right time.”

The Seahawks advanced to take on No. 2 seed Jefferson County North (17-3) in the sub-state semifinals on Thursday at Valley Falls. The winner will play either No. 1 Troy (19-2) or No. 5 Jackson Heights (13-7) on Saturday with a state-tournament berth on the line.

“We feel great. We’re super confident, and we always have been, but one thing that I think we have more of at the end of this year than we had earlier in the year and at the end of the year last year is that we have humility,” Seabury coach Ashley Battles said. “We’re treating everyone with way more respect and taking everybody seriously. So we’re confident, but we’re certainly cautious with that.”

Seabury (69)

Mikey Wycoff 9-16 3-3 23, Amir Shami 0-1 0-0 0, Cobe Green 2-3 0-0 4, Zach McDermott 6-13 1-2 16, Thomas diZerga 3-5 2-4 8, Max Easter 1-5 0-0 3, Bansi King 3-13 0-0 8, Austin Gaumer 1-3 0-0 2, Chris Green 2-3 1-1 5, Luke Hornberger 0-0 0-0 0, Oliver Xu 0-1 0-0 0. Totals: 27-63 7-10 69.

Maranatha (45)

Roland Hou 5-13 0-0 13, Jax Holland 3-14 2-2 10, Andrew Fortin 1-2 1-4 3, Nate Raydo 0-0 0-0 0, Brock West 1-2 4-4 7, Jason Friesen 0-1 3-4 3, Mitchell Peacher 0-3 0-0 0, Zeru Fitsum 2-4 1-2 6, Billy Rao 0-1 0-0 0, Nathan Burdette 0-0 0-0 0, Jordan Linderer 0-0 0-0 0, Drew Utech 1-2 0-0 3. Totals: 13-42 11-16 45.

Seabury 16 15 23 15 — 69

Maranatha 7 9 10 19 — 45

Three-point goals: Seabury 8-28 (McDermott 3, Wycoff 2, King 2, Easter); Maranatha 8-26 (Hou 3, Holland 2, West, Fitsum, Utech). Fouled out: None. Turnovers: Seabury 6, Maranatha 22.