Picture courtesy of Tanner Colvin

Salina Central’s boys have the momentum, but Salina South has the head-to-head advantage.

That is just one of the dynamics at play when the Mustangs and Cougars put their seasons on the line at 6 p.m. Tuesday night in a Class 5A basketball sub-state matchup at the South gym. The teams sport identical 15-8 records with Central the No. 9 seed in the West and South at No. 8.

It also will mark the third meeting this season between the city rivals with South winning the first two by a combined nine points.

South head coach Jason Hooper

“South and Central used to play each other three times a lot, and so it’s a great opportunity for our community to rally around a couple of schools in town,” said South coach Jason Hooper, whose Cougars beat Central 59-55 on Dec. 12 and 58-53 in the Salina Invitational Tournament semifinals on Jan. 23 with both games going down to the wire. “I’m sure it will be a raucous environment, and our kids are looking forward to that opportunity.”

Central comes into the game on a roll, having won seven straight games while claiming a share of the Ark Valley Chisholm Trail League Division II title at 10-2. South has won two of three since snapping a three-game losing streak.

Central coach Chris Fear downplayed the momentum factor, but at the same time likes the way his Mustangs have played down the stretch.

“I think we’re a lot better than we were six weeks ago (in the SIT matchup),” Fear said. “I think we’re really confident certainly going into the game, but we have to play better.”

“We haven’t really played well in either game (against South), watching the films again. I was just kind of disappointed with how we played, so I’m hopeful that we’re going play better, and I’m confident that we will.”

Hooper acknowledged Central’s late-season surge, but also defended his Cougars’ performance against challenging AVCTL Division I schedule.

“They’re playing really well right now. They have to feel really good about how they’re playing and the way they’ve finished down the stretch,” Hooper said. “(But) our kids are battle tested as well. And in Division I, there’s not an easy night.”

“And so, we feel like our kids have played really good down the stretch as well. We have not found ourselves on the winning side of a couple of those battles, but we’ve taken some of the top teams in the state to the wire. I feel like both teams are playing great at the end of the season, and whoever makes the fewest mistakes is probably going to win.”

The two teams present contrasting styles, with Central’s formidable size in the post and attacking guards, while South is more balanced and stronger from the 3-point line.

Central head coach Chris Fear

“We need to (attack inside),” said Fear, who starts a pair of 6-foot-6 senior post players in Greyson Jones and Noah Peck. “That’s something I don’t know that we’ve done very well in the two games we played.”

“And we’ve got to get them off the 3-point line. They’ve shot 41% in the two games as a team, and that’s just not good. They’re very capable, so we’ve just got to do a better job contesting them out there.”

Conversely, the Cougars will challenge Central to beat them from the perimeter, where they missed all nine 3-point attempts in the first matchup but were 6-for-11 in the SIT. The Mustangs guards Kaeden Nienke and Gannon Cole both excel at getting to the basket.

“We’ve done a pretty good job matching up with their size the first couple of times we played them, but they definitely do pose a situation where you’ve got to be very disciplined with your box-outs and all the little things.

“I feel like if we do have an advantage, it’s a little bit in quickness with our guard play. But they have really good guards, too, and they get downhill about as well as any that you’ll see.”

Central’s offense revolves around sophomore guard Nienke, who averages 16.7 points per game, Jones in the middled at 16.4 points and 5.6 rebounds, and sophomore forward Grant Ostmeyer with 11.4 points. South’s scoring is more spread out with 6-7 senior center Gavin DeVoe averaging 13.9 points and 8.9 rebounds, Sawyer Walker 10 points, and guards Easton Wilcox 8.5 points, Jaxon Myers 8.2 and Kobie Henley 7.7.

With South the No. 8 seed, the game will be played in the Cougars’ home gym after first two matchups took place on a neutral court at Kansas Wesleyan. But Fear doesn’t mind the change of venue at all.

“I would way prefer it that way, that we played in either gym, rather than in a neutral place,” he said. “It’s much more like (a true rivalry).

“With the crowd, it’s going to be louder. Wesleyan is fine and it’s a great facility, but it’s not either one of ours. So, I wish that we went back to playing in the home gyms.”

Things will not get any easier for whichever team comes out on top, with the winner advancing to the sub-state final Friday at West No. 1 seed Kapaun-Mt. Carmel in Wichita.

“We’re sitting there at 15-8 and you’re trying to just even fight for a home game,” Hooper said. “It just goes to show how good 5A basketball is on the West half of the state.”

“And you look over at the East, and we’d be the four seed. It’s just a matter of what the competition level is, and both of us play good competition all year long. So again, great opportunity for both schools to come in and try to knock the other one off.”