The Maize boys basketball team was denied a trip to the Class 5A state tournament in the sub-state championship match last year.

The Eagles look motivated to change that for 2018-19.

South Dakota State commit Caleb Grill poured in 30 points, Maize hit nine threes, and the No. 5 Eagles throttled the Salina South Cougars, 76-41, at Maize High School.

Maize (2-0, 1-0 AVCTL-I) jumped out to a 23-4 advantage, thanks to seven triples in the first quarter. Grill had four while Devon Koehn added three more, pushing Maize ahead 29-12 after one quarter.

South (0-2, 0-2) trimmed the deficit to 12, but ultimately fell behind 43-24 at the half and only saw the Maize lead grow more in the second.

Grill made six threes and threw down four impressive dunks. Koehn finished with 14 points while Brandle Easter Jr. chipped in 12.

Sophomore Devon Junghans paced the Cougars with 12 points to earn the Salina Ortho Player of the Game. South travels to Buhler Friday with doubleheader coverage starting at 5:45 on Y93.7, ksal.com and the Rocking M Media app.

https://soundcloud.com/user-628709466/salina-south-maize-full-broadcast-12418

Maize 60, Salina South 20

While the Maize offense stole the show in the boys contest, it was the standard Eagles’ defense that highlighted the 40-point victory.

No. 4 Maize (2-0, 1-0 AVCTL-I) limited South to two made field goals, climbing to a 16-4 advantage. The Eagles pushed the margin to as many as 29 in the second stanza and never looked back.

Cassandra Onwugbufor paced the Eagles with 14 points. Halie Jones and Alexis Cauthon provided 10 each.

Senior Gretchen Cox led the Cougars (0-2, 0-2) with nine points to grab the Salina Ortho Player of the Game.

https://soundcloud.com/user-537926579/salina-south-maize-full-broadcast-12418