By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
After a painfully slow start, Seaman's boys basketball team took care of business on the court with a 78-53 Senior Night romp past United Kansas Conference and city rival Shawnee Heights Friday night at Seaman.
Seaman senior star KaeVon Bonner scored 38 points Friday night as the Vikings wrapped up a 19-4 regular season with a 78-53 Senior Night win over Shawnee Heights. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
Seaman coach Craig Cox was honored Friday night for his outstanding coaching career after the Vikings' 78-53 UKC win over city rival Shawnee Heights. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]
Then, after that emotional win, the Vikings and the Seaman community made sure that they gave retiring Seaman coach Craig Cox a fitting farewell in the final regular-season game of his outstanding coaching career.
The night got off to an inauspicious beginning for Seaman when Shawnee Heights roared to a 13-point lead and an 11-point advantage at the start of the second stanza.
But Seaman, which improved to 19-4 overall and 14-2 in the UKC, responded in front of a huge home crowd to bury the T-Birds with a 25-3 second quarter, opening up a 40-29 halftime advantage and cruising to the big win.
"I told our guys at the end of the first quarter, I said, 'You know they're running on high and I don't think it's going to stay there. Let's try to change the tempo and see if we can slow down their momentum,' '' Cox said.
"We went to the zone and they had good looks and fortunately for us they didn't make them and then we rebounded really well in our zone and that turned things around. Then I thought we did a better job in the second quarter on the offensive end.''
Shawnee Heights (15-8, 10-6) was still within 12 points (56-44) at the end of the third quarter before senior KaeVan Bonner and the Vikings turned the game into a rout with a 22-9 scoring edge over the final eight minutes.
Bonner had a huge 38-point night, with 14 field goals, a pair of 3-pointers and an 8 of 9 performance at the free throw line, while fellow senior Griffin Zuniga added 10 points.
Junior Cam Ross led Shawnee Heights with 16 points in Friday's 78-53 UKC loss at Seaman. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
Freshman Quincy Dixon had 14 points in Friday's 78-53 Shawnee Heights loss at Seaman. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
Junior Cam Ross led Shawnee Heights with 16 points while freshman Quincy Dixon added 14 points and senior JaiMarion Cook 11 for the T-Birds.
Retiring Seaman basketball coach Craig Cox poses with his five seniors during a post-game recognition ceremony. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]
After the game the spotlight turned to Cox, who has turned in an outstanding coaching career at Shawnee Heights, Washburn Rural and now Seaman, leading all three teams to state tournament appearances and coaching Heights to Class 5A state titles in 2000 and 2002 and Seaman to the state crown in 2022.
Cox also coached Heights to a pair of state baseball championships before turning his attention to basketball.
A post-game video was played featuring messages from a host of Cox's former players, including PGA star and U.S. Open champion Gary Woodland and current Los Angeles Angels pitcher Ryan Zeferjahn, as well as tributes from many of Cox's coaching counterparts, co-workers and family members.
"It was amazing to see so many people contribute to (that video) and the memories that pop into your head as you see each face and hear their comments,'' Cox said. "I'm really overwhelmed by the whole event.''
Cox had made the decision to retire after the current season months ago and said he feels good about the fact that he's stepping away at the right time.
"Bob Chipman (Washburn University coaching legend) made the comment after he retired, he said, 'You'll know when you know,' '' Cox said. "And I just felt like 39 years had been amazing. Being a (physical education) teacher is phenomenal, but now I have an opportunity to go look at some other things.
"I just kind of had that feeling that the timing (was right). This year's been great as far as the regular season. I couldn't even of thought of it going this well and that's even with a couple of ugly ones that we had along the way.''
Cox had kept the news of his retirement under wraps as much as possible over the season, wanting the focus to remain on his team.
"I wanted it to be for these guys,'' Cox said. "It's their senior year and that's why I'm so happy that my wife, with Travis Brown (Seaman athletic director), made the decision to do my part afterwards so they had their Senior Night and the focus was on them.
"They had the phenomenal game and were able to celebrate a big win over a quality team.''
Cox and his Vikings will now turn their attention to trying to end the 2025-2026 season with a bang, earning the No. 4 Class 5A West seed for sub-state.
Seaman will host No. 13 seed Valley Center (10-13) at 6 p.m. on Tuesday, with the winner advancing to a Friday 6 o'clock title game to square off with the winner of the semifinal between No. 12 Eisenhower (10-12) and No. 5 Hays (18-4).
Shawnee Heights will also be at home for sub-state, with the No. 4 East seed hosting No. 13 seed De Soto (7-15) at 6 p.m. Tuesday. The winner of that game, the third meeting of the year between the T-Birds and Wildcats, will advance to Friday's 6 p.m. final to face the winner of the semifinal between No. 12 Leavenworth (8-15) and No. 5 St. James Academy (13-10).
SEAMAN BOYS 78, SHAWNEE HEIGHTS 53
Shawnee Heights 26 3 15 9 -- 53
Seaman 15 25 16 22 -- 78
Shawnee Heights (15-8, 10-6) – Alston 2-4 0-0 5, Cook 4-7 1-2 11, Ross 5-12 5-9 16, Scott 2-4 2-2 7, Dixon 5-8 3-4 14, Lee 0-0 0-0 0, Halloran 0-1 0-0 0, Terrell 0-1 0-0 0, Vega 0-1 0-0 0, Lincoln 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 18-39 11-17 78.
Seaman (19-4, 14-2) – Wiltz 3-6 0-0 7, McConnaughey 2-3 0-0 4, Zuniga 5-5 0-1 10, Brian 4-7 0-0 8, Bonner 14-23 8-9 38, Scholes 0-1 0-0 0, Becker 4-6 0-0 8, Esser 1-4 0-2 2, LaRosh 0-0 1-2 1. Totals 33-55 9-14 78.
3-point goals – Shawnee Heights 6 (Cook 2, Alston, Ross, Scott, Dixon), Seaman 3 (Bonner 2, Wiltz). Total fouls – Shawnee Heights 16, Seaman 19. Fouled out – none. Technical fouls -- none.
