Mike Kraft/MDN
Bishop Ryan’s Hayden Seay looks to pass to an open teammate underneath the basket behind South Prairie-Max’s Jaret Eklie during the first half of a game at Bishop Ryan on Tuesday, Jan. 6.
The Seay brothers are your typical teenage siblings, constantly trying to outdo the other in friendly competition, whether it’s on the basketball court or off.
While older brother Hayden won the battle on the stat sheet on Tuesday, Jan. 6, Peyton was just as responsible in helping the Bishop Ryan boys basketball team kick off the rust from Christmas break.
Hayden and Peyton Seay combined for 34 points, breaking open a close game at halftime with a second-half flurry of offense in a 53-36 victory over South Prairie-Max for the Lions’ first win of 2026. The Seays tallied 22 of Bishop Ryan’s 31 second-half points.
“We started off really slow and sloppy and then had a good talk in the locker room and came out firing,” Hayden Seay said. “Everyone gave all-out effort. Everyone was talking and communicating and we all just fed off each other that entire half.”
The Lions (5-1) held a slim 22-20 advantage at the half, hitting just nine shots over the course of the first 16 minutes. They managed just nine points in the opening quarter and found themselves trailing 11-9.
“It’s a mixture of everything,” Bishop Ryan coach Broderick Bosch said of the first half. “Our energy just wasn’t there and I think part of it is coming right out of Christmas break and everyone is back into school and having a bit longer day, and it’s just a mixture of everything that we have to shake off that funk.”
Hayden Seay led all scorers with nine points at the break and registered the first basket out of the locker room to eclipse double figures. From there, Peyton Seay took over the scoring duties, giving the Lions the lead for good with his first bucket of the second half. Peyton Seay sparked an 11-0 run in which he provided seven points to give the Lions a 35-25 lead with three minutes left in the third quarter.
“I was just seeing a lot of open shots,” Peyton Seay said. “My teammates were getting me open. My teammates were getting rebounds, kicking it out and passing. It was all just flowing together and got me open to knock down shots.”
The fourth quarter was the Hayden Seay show. With the Lions leading 40-29 entering the final frame, Hayden Seay single-handedly outscored the Royals 11-7. He had all but two of Bishop Ryan’s points in the quarter. Jack Passa put in the only other basket over the final eight minutes.
“We would get the ball moving and we would get a reversal and I would see the defense shift, which gave me a good driving lane to get downhill and score,” Hayden Seay said.
Hayden Seay finished with a game-high 24 points. Peyton Seay was the only other Lion in double figures, adding 10.
With the offense sputtering at times, the Lions relied on their defense to keep them in the game early. The Royals led for much of the first half and all of the opening quarter before turnovers allowed Bishop Ryan to grab the lead for the first time. Hayden Seay and Izaac Strandlien stole the ball in the backcourt on consecutive possessions, leading to fastbreak layups and fueled an 8-0 run to put Bishop Ryan in front 22-17 with 1:37 remaining in the first half.
“That’s the best thing when your offense is stale like it was tonight is try to get some easy transition buckets off steals,” Bosch said. “It’s usually one of the best things you can do. Our defense sparked our offense in that way.”
The Lions’ defense limited South Prairie-Max to eight field goals and no 3-pointers in the first half and six field goals in the second half. They surrendered just 16 points over the final 16 minutes.
“We had a little stretch of turnovers, but we’ve been slowly improving on that,” South Prairie-Max coach Jade Larson said. “Hopefully by the end of the year we have that figured out and we’re playing well together and not turning the ball over and I think that’s what we need to do to make a run. That’s kind of what we’re hoping for, but it has improved and I’m proud of the effort tonight.”
The Royals (3-4) were less than 24 hours removed from a game on Monday just across town at Our Redeemer’s. South Prairie-Max lost to the Knights by 43 points. Larson was much more pleased with his team’s effort on Tuesday.
“Our effort was definitely better tonight,” Larson said. “We put it on our guys defensively that we had to have a way better effort tonight and we did. They proved that tonight that they could do that and that’s what we have to do against good teams. We just have to have that full effort for four quarters now.”
Weston Sauby led the Royals with 11 points, all of which came in the opening half. Sauby was responsible for more than half of his team’s first-half points. David Eberle and Will Rau each added eight points. Rau hit both of South Prairie-Max’s 3-pointers.
Bishop Ryan returns to district play when it hosts Drake-Anamoose on Monday, Jan. 12, at 7:15 p.m. South Prairie-Max hosts Glenburn on Friday, Jan. 9.
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