Jay Daubenberger
After resuming their non conference schedule on Tuesday in Oklahoma, the Seward County Saints men’s basketball team continued their road trip out to Iowa to face off with the #12 ranked team in the NJCAA in Indian Hills where the Warriors ran away from the start and never looked back as SCCC fell 82-42 on the road to close out the 2023 calendar year.
Indian Hills shot out in front with a 7-0 run to start the game off and it was all Warriors all the way for the rest of the night. Blessin Kimble was finally able to get the Saints on the board with his signature turnaround jumper to put the score at 7-2, with him and Lovasoa Andriatsarafara combining for Seward County’s first ten points to go into the media timeout down 14-10 to their top fifteen opponent. Carson Bennett was able to knock down one of only four made threes on for the Saints to keep the deficit in the single digits 24-15 before the Warriors ended the first half of action on a 13-6 run to go into the break ahead 37-21 over SCCC.
The second half was no better for the Saints as Indian Hills once again opened with a big run, scoring 11 straight points to push ahead 48-21 to put Seward County behind for good. An alley-oop pass turned into a made three-pointer by the returning Mathias M’Madi to put the score at 58-34 and that was a wrap for the final ten minutes as the #12 ranked Warriors of Indian Hills handed the Saints their ninth loss of the season 82-42 to end the 2023 calendar year.
Andriatsarafara finished the night with 10 points and 8 rebounds to lead Seward County with Jaden Martin coming off the bench with 7 and Kimble adding on 6 points to go with 7 boards of his own.
The Saints fall to 3-9 on the 2023-2024 season and end the 2023 year with four straight losses heading into 2024. Seward County will return to action on January 3rd when the Saints take on Jayhawk Conference rival Garden City with tip-off scheduled for 7:30 PM.