Hamilton Southeastern advanced to the semi-finals of the Columbia City/Huntington Tournament with two wins on Thursday.
In their first game, the Class 4A No. 2 Royals beat Norwell 68-41. Southeastern outscored Norwell 21-3 in the first quarter to put the game out of reach. HSE had balanced scoring as six players had seven or more points and every player that played scored.
Noah Smith was the scoring leader with 11 points, with Chaz Birchfield and Chris Grubbs adding 10 points each. Aaron Etherington led the rebounding with six boards, followed by Smith pulling five. Bowman also had four steals and Grubbs blocked three shots.
Southeastern held off Scecina 68-61 in its quarter-final game. Sophomore Mabor Majak scored 14 points in the first half to pace the Royals, who had five players score at least nine points.
Majak had 16 points to lead the HSE scoring, followed by Birchfield with 15, Bowman with 12, Etherington with 10 and Grubbs with nine. Majak was outstanding on defense with eight rebounds and four blocks. Birchfield and Etherington both grabbed six rebounds, Birchfield dished out four assists and Bowman made two blocks.
Southeastern, now 9-0 for the season, will take on Huntington North at 2 p.m. in a semi-final game.
