photo by: Chris Duderstadt

Veritas junior Tucker Flory drives in for a transition layup in the first half of the Eagles' 55-52 win over Bishop Seabury on Jan. 5 at Haskell's Coffin Sports Complex.

Each time the scrappy Bishop Seabury Academy boys basketball team mounted a rally, the veteran Veritas Christian squad had an answer on Friday at Haskell’s Coffin Sports Complex.

Veritas juniors Tucker Flory (20 points) and Trey Huslig (16 points) powered the Eagles past the Seahawks, 55-52, in a down-to-the-wire matchup between the arch rivals.

“It feels awesome,” Huslig said. “I’ve played since my freshman year against them. It feels good to get the dub (win). They’re a really good team, and they fought really hard.

After a 3-pointer from Huslig and a bucket from Flory pushed the Eagles’ lead to nine midway through the fourth quarter, Veritas had Seabury up against the wall. The Seahawks did not go quietly, though, as sophomore Cobe Green scoring six straight points to make it a one-possession game with 1:07 to play. Green scored eight of his game-high 21 points in the fourth quarter.

“I love the way he was attacking the basket tonight,” Seabury coach Jonathan Raney said. “This was by far his best game with attacking the basket. We talked to him about turning the corner and attacking the basket aggressively. There were some layups that he probably wishes he would have made, but as far as his attack and getting to the basket, it was as good as it’s been all season. Obviously we’re going to need him to do that throughout the rest of the season for us because he needs to be a big piece for us going forward.”

The Seahawks (1-5) were able to get the ball back with a chance to tie with 50 seconds left following a travel on Huslig, but they weren’t able to capitalize after Green misfired on a 3-pointer and a layup and freshman Zach Bloch (15 points) also came up empty on a shot from long distance.

With Veritas (6-3) still mired in a scoring drought, junior Quinton Donohoe hit both ends of a 1-and-1 with 11.9 seconds to go to extend the Eagles’ edge to 55-50.

“That was huge because Q was struggling mentally in this game,” Veritas coach Carl Huslig said. “To step up in that moment and hit free throws was big for him and big for us.”

Bloch gave the Seahawks one last chance after making a driving layup with five seconds left, and Seabury was able to force a turnover underneath its own basket with 0.5 seconds to play. The Seabury freshman tried to hoist up a game-tying 3-pointer to force overtime but wasn’t able to corral the inbound pass.

Although the Seahawks weren’t quite able to get over the hump, Raney was still pleased with the effort that they gave.

“With being young and a team that doesn’t have a lot of depth, to play with consistent energy throughout the game is tough. I thought we did it for a lot of times throughout the game,” Raney said. “Unfortunately we just had too many breakdowns. We obviously had some costly turnovers, a couple of missed layups that we would have liked to have down the stretch, but hats off to Veritas. We knew they were going to be tough and we knew how much they wanted to win this game.

“I told our guys that I thought we wanted to win the game, too. I thought our effort was good, but we’ve got to execute so much better as the season goes along,” Raney continued. “That’s on me. As a coach, I’ve got to get these guys executing better and converting better and just knowing what we want and when we want it. That’s pretty important in basketball.”

The Seahawks have dropped back-to-back games to start 2018; the Eagles have won both of theirs.

“We’re confident,” Trey Huslig said. “Pleased, but not satisfied.”

Both the Eagles and Seahawks are looking forward to meeting again on Feb. 9 at Seabury.

“It’s a great rivalry,” Carl Huslig said. “Everybody talks about Free State and Lawrence, but I think we have a great small school rivalry. This is my first time in four years that we beat them, so it’s good to get the monkey off our back.”

VERITAS (55)

Quinton Donohoe 2-6 2-2 6, Trey Huslig 6-12 0-2 16, Jackson Rau 1-2 0-0 2, Will Rau 1-1 0-0 3, Kammal Dowdell 1-4 4-5 6, Grant Schuck 1-5 0-0 2, Scott Weinhold 0-0 0-0 0, Tucker Flory 9-16 2-6 20, Kyle Weinhold 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 21-45 8-15 55.

SEABURY (52)

Stavian Jones 0-2 0-0 0, Thomas diZererga 2-5 2-4 6, Zach Bloch 6-17 0-0 15, Sam Bayliss 1-2 0-1 2, Chris Green 2-5 2-2 6, Cobe Green 9-16 3-6 21, Luke Hornberger 1-4 0-0 2. Totals 21-51 7-14 52.

Veritas 20 14 12 9 — 55

Seabury 14 14 9 15 — 52

3-point goals: Veritas 5-15 (Huslig 4, Will Rau); Seabury 3-15 (Bloch 3). Fouled out: Chris Green, Seabury. Turnovers: Veritas 12, Seabury 11.