photo by: Carter Gaskins

Bishop Seabury senior Cobe Green (24) goes up over Heritage Christian Academy's Brock Spencer (21) for a layup during the opening round of sub-state Tuesday night at BSA on March 3, 2020.

Bishop Seabury’s boys basketball team has been the top-ranked team in Class 2A all year, and the Seahawks certainly looked the part during a 96-63 win over Heritage Christian Academy in the opening round of sub-state action on Tuesday night.

The Seahawks were in front from start to finish in Tuesday’s win, which was their lone home game of the postseason. BSA will have to win two games in Lyndon this weekend to return to the state tournament.

The Seahawks (19-2, No. 1 in Class 2A) set their season high in points on Tuesday, besting their previous mark by 9.

“It feels good,” junior guard Zach Bloch said. “Out of 64 teams, 32 survived tonight. We are looking to come out and play a lot better than we did tonight even though we pulled out the win.”

Bishop Seabury has now won 12 games in a row — a streak that dates back to Jan. 28 and includes nine double-digit victories.

Considering how dominant the Seahawks have been as of late, they actually faced one of their tougher tests on Tuesday.

After being up by 20 at the intermission, Bishop Seabury saw its lead shrink to 14 late in the third quarter. Heritage Christian (6-16), which drilled 12 3-pointers, connected on multiple shots from long range to threaten the hosts in the third period. That forced BSA head coach Jonathan Raney to call a timeout with 3:06 remaining.

“I thought we were too soft defensively,” Raney said. “There is a lot we need to work on the next couple days, or our postseason is going to be pretty short.”

The Seahawks responded with a decisive stretch to close out the third quarter, removing any doubt about the outcome. Senior Cobe Green netted three consecutive layups, and sophomore Joao Carlos Ramirez and senior Luke Hornberger each recorded an interior bucket. Bloch became more aggressive as well, scoring 11 points in the third quarter.

The Seahawks’ high-octane offense was on display from the opening tip, however. BSA scored the first 6 points of the night within the first 90 seconds of the game on baskets by Stavian Jones, Green and Hornberger.

Heritage Christian responded by hitting a pair of 3-pointers to trim the deficit to 1, but the Seahawks then scored 14 unanswered points and went on an 18-2 run over the final four minutes of the first quarter. Seabury had a 27-10 advantage entering the second period.

During that stretch, plenty of players were getting involved and there was a lot of good ball movement. In fact, eight of Bishop Seabury’s 12 first-quarter field goals came off assists.

That offensive rhythm was on display all night for the Seahawks, who scored at least 21 points in each quarter. All five starters — Bloch, Jones, Green, Hornberger and Ramirez — were responsible for the scoring production.

Ramirez and Green led the team with 23 points each. Ramirez shot 7 of 12 from the floor, while Green made 9 of 18. Bloch shot 8 of 12 during his 21-point performance. Hornberger and Jones finished with 17 and 12 points, respectively.

“There are things we can do better and need to do better to make it through the weekend,” Green said. “This win was important, but (we) are on to the next.”

Bishop Seabury will play in the next round of sub-state at Lyndon on Friday. The sub-state title game is slated for Saturday.

Heritage (63)

Ben Fischer 4-8 6-9 16, Kaleb Pittman 4-10 4-8 15, Brock Spencer 2-6 0-0 4, Wyatt Evans 1-5 2-2 5, Owen Evans 4-8 3-3 15, Blake Hekman 2-7 0-0 6, TJ Crews 1-1 0-0 2. Totals: 18-45 15-22 63.

Seabury (96)

Zach Bloch 8-12 1-3 21, Stavian Jones 5-10 0-2 12, Cobe Green 9-18 4-4 23, Luke Hornberger 7-10 3-4 17, Joao Carlos Ramirez 7-12 8-8 23, Sam Bayliss 0-1 0-0 0, Sam Hertzog 0-1 0-0 0. Totals: 36-64 16-22 96.

Heritage 10 18 26 9 — 63

Seabury 27 21 27 21 — 96

Three-point goals: HCA 12-27 (Fisher 2, Pittman 3, Owen Evans 4, Hekman 2, Wyatt Evans); BSA 8-20 (Bloch 4, Jones 2, Green, Ramirez). Turnovers: HCA 16, BSA 9. Fouled out: None.

Other area scores

Class 4A girls

Eudora 60, Coffeyville 19

Next up: Eudora (19-2) vs. Paola (12-9) at 7 p.m. Friday

Baldwin 44, Louisburg 32

Next up: Baldwin (16-5) at Labette County at 6 p.m. Friday

Class 3A girls

Silver Lake 62, Perry-Lecompton 48

Kaws finish their season with a 10-11 record

Class 3A boys

Perry-Lecompton 56, Jefferson West 53

Next up: Perry-Lecompton (15-6) at Royal Valley (20-1) at 7:30 p.m. Thursday