Icing on the cake: State runner-up Southeast embraces fanfare back home

Ryan Mahan Staff Writer @ryanmahanSJR

The Southeast High School boys basketball team didn’t leave Peoria as Class 3A state champions, but was treated like it nonetheless in a welcome home party Sunday afternoon.

The Spartans were greeted at the parking lot of J.C. Penney around 2 p.m., and given an escort by a fire truck and several Springfield Police Department squad cars to Southeast’s Ash Street campus.

The starters — senior guard Kobe Medley, junior guards Terrion Murdix and Stepheon Sims, junior forward Anthony Fairlee and junior center Michael Tyler — rode in on a 1971 Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme convertible.

“This rally was icing on the cake for this year,” Southeast’s 10th-year coach, Lawrence Thomas, said.

“It’s been a whole great experience,” said senior forward Robert Hayes, who will play football at McKendree College this fall. “It’s great to see the whole eastside come out to support us. It was great to see everybody come out and support us.”

After several minutes in the parking lot outside Eisenhower Pool, the parents, coaches and players started making their way into Herb Scheffler Gymnasium, where fourth-year football coach Matt Lauber served as emcee, calling the coaches and players one by one, culminating with Medley, who carried in the Spartans’ second-place trophy — the first state finals trophy in the school’s 51-year history.

“The people in the city are still very supportive even though we didn’t get what we wanted,” said Medley. “But either way, it’s still very important because we still made history and we feel like we made our city and everybody at Southeast, the alumni and all the people, so very proud.”

In the immediate aftermath of the team’s 71-56 loss to Chicago Morgan Park in the champion game Saturday, the players experienced natural disappointment.

But Thomas said by the time the players took the stage for the press conference at Carver Arena, the team had already started to put that in the past.

“As soon as we got in the locker room and shared our emotions with each other, it was time to move forward and keep celebrating this awesome season we had,” Thomas said. “It was tough (though).”

Southeast’s season brought home a lot of trophies and plaques. The Spartans, who went 29-4, won the consolation championship at the season-opening Decatur Team Soy Turkey Tournament, took its first Collinsville Holiday Classic championship in 27 tries, won the City Tournament and a Winter Throwdown Shootout title at Peoria High and were regional, sectional and supersectional champions.

“We made history for the school all year round,” Hayes said. “It’s great.”

Where will they put all the new hardware? It appeared as if the one in place at Scheffler Gym was already near capacity before the 2017-18 awards were brought back.

“We hope so. That is the plan, to build a bigger trophy case,” Thomas said.

Contact Ryan Mahan: 788-1546, ryan.mahan@sj-r.com, Twitter.com/RyanMahanSJR

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