photo by: Conner Becker/Journal-World

Bishop Seabury junior Jace Smith looks for an open pass during the sub-state title game with Centralia on Mar. 2, 2024, at Highland-Doniphan West High School in Highland, Kansas.

A nearly five-hour drive is now the only thing keeping Seabury boys basketball from the state tournament, as the No. 7 Seahawks prepare for a first-round battle with No. 2 La Crosse on Wednesday in Colby.

Seabury (19-4), paired with a Leopards program (20-2) sure to test the Seahawks from every angle, didn’t complete the substate round in the most elegant fashion, escaping the semifinal against Burlingame in overtime and beating out top-seeded Centralia on a buzzer-beater by Jace Smith.

First-year Seahawks coach Trey Johnson said the last two matchups tested his group’s endurance, especially with such a short bench.

“That’s one of those huge tests,” Johnson said. “They know, ‘Hey, we can play from behind.’ We can do good when we need to. We’ve always talked about whether can we play man all season, or if we can press, which we don’t mostly because we run five dudes a lot.”

The Leopards shared a similar substate finish, squeaking past Central Plains 39-36 in a noticeably low-scoring affair compared to La Crosse’s 65.4 average points per game.

La Crosse enters the contest with clearly defined scorers, including sophomore standout Lee Holopirek (14.1 ppg). The Leopards can also stretch it out to senior Caden Morgan (13.2 ppg) or look inside to senior center Logan Skillet (13.2 ppg).

In last week’s substate title win over Centralia, Seabury leaned heavily on Smith (16.9 ppg) down the stretch as senior Aidan Page (13.7 ppg) and junior Chase Honarvar (14.2 ppg) slipped into foul trouble.

Johnson anticipates a bigger role from his bench, particularly junior Zephyr O’Hara and freshman Lucien Brockhoff, on the block.

“The four guys sitting on the bench have embraced their roles,” Johnson said. “Lucien knows, ‘If I go in, it’s because Chase is in foul trouble and I need to be a big guy that gets rebounds and doesn’t give up points.'”

Clean basketball is the name of the game for Johnson’s group. Five Seahawks, including Page, Honarvar, and sophomore Jace Hoffman (15.6 ppg), entered the fourth quarter of their sub-state win with three or more fouls.

“I think that we know we can’t be super aggressive,” Johnson said. “Which is another reason why we play our zone and do what we need to do to keep ourselves out of foul trouble.”

Seabury and La Crosse are slotted in as the third game on Wednesday. Tipoff is set for 6 p.m. at the Colby Events Center. Find the complete 1A DI boys state bracket here.