Southeast returns to The Big House
Feb. 28—Southeast Lauderdale's boys basketball team fell to Booneville 47-35 in the state championship game a year ago, and the Tigers' seniors are itching for another shot at a 3A title in their final season on the team.
Southeast's seniors are just one game away from getting that shot.
"Last year left a sour taste in our mouth. The hardest thing about anything is being patient, so we knew where we wanted to be was in this spot," Southeast Lauderdale coach Centel Truman said.
The Tigers are heading back to the Mississippi Coliseum, also known as The Big House, after Southeast Lauderdale (22-4) defeated Magee (17-7) 61-24 at Clinton High in the third round of the playoffs on Saturday.
"I'm just excited to be there. I can't wait to play with my team and win," Southeast senior and starting center Kaden Butler said. "I have so much motivation now that I know what it's like and I lost. I have a chip on my shoulder."
The Tigers will play Byhalia (18-11) on Wednesday in the state semifinals. Truman's tape review has shown him that Byhalia is an extremely athletic team with great guard play, much like Southeast.
2023 3A Mr. Basketball Demondre Graham is a leader for Southeast on and off the court, but Byhalia could focus on stopping the senior guard when these teams face each other.
If the Indians do, as many teams have this season, the Tigers are ready. Ten different players on Southeast's roster scored against Magee, and experienced players like Dre O'Neal and Butler are more than capable of providing points if Graham is less effective than usual on offense.
"We don't just have one player who can go get it," Graham said. "Everybody on our team pretty much can get a bucket when they want to. If they take me away, we have bigs that can get points at will, and we've got guards capable of getting to the rim and getting points or dishing it to the bigs."
Truman said he is 100% confident that his other players will have success if Byhalia targets Graham.
"We work as a team," starting junior Elliot Tulip said. "We don't have a lot of selfish players. We all love to see each other succeed, and we're super blessed to have Demondre on this team, but that's one thing I love about this team is we have a bunch of guys that can step up."
The Tigers have nine seniors on their roster, but they will also need their underclassmen to step up to succeed against Byhalia. Tulip was homeschooled last year, so this will be his first trip to The Big House.
"I've never played in a gym like that. It's going to be awesome," Tulip said. "I'm not too concerned about who we're playing. I'm just trying to do the little things that coach teaches us to do, and I think it'll take care of itself."
If the Tigers can beat Byhalia, they could get a rematch of this season's Region 5-3A finals against Morton in the championship on Saturday. Or, they could face Booneville in a rematch of last year's state championship game.
"It dosen't make a difference to me because it's an opportunity for our guys to get a chance to beat the last two teams that beat them (in tournaments)," Truman said.
Southeast's team goal every year is to win as many trophies as possible. This year, the Tigers won the Sam Dale Tournament but lost 53-51 to Morton in the Region 5-3A finals.
Now they are in search of one more trophy.
"We always want to win anything with a trophy in it," Truman said. "This year, unfortunately, we split one and one, so hopefully we can go get two out of three."
