Nobody can say the Solon varsity boys didn’t leave it all on the floor Monday, Feb. 28, in a Class 3A Substate No.4 Championship loss to Central DeWitt, in Mount Vernon.
“That was exactly my message to them,” Coach Jared Galpin said after the 47-37, season ending loss. “Their heads are down, I made them all stand up and said ‘Listen, you have no reason to hang your heads. It sucks to lose and it hurts, but man, they left it all out there, and that’s all we can ask them to do.”
The Spartans found themselves in a 6-0 hole early, until Kinnick Pusteoska scored making it 6-2. A Jake Quillin three-point basket gave Solon their only lead of the night at 9-8. Solon trailed 14-13 at the end of the first period and only scored five points in the second off an Oaken Foster three-pointer and a pair of free throws by Jake Benzing to trail, 23-18, at halftime.
Jake Benzing opened the second half with a three-pointer, while a Pusteoska bucket kept Solon within four points of the Sabers, down 29-25, with 2:22 left in the third. DeWitt went on to win the quarter, 33-25. The fourth period opened with a questionable technical foul, leading to a pair of free throws for the Sabers and a 35-25 advantage. The deficit continued to increase as Solon trailed, 40-25, with 5:45 left to play. Jacob Timmons put in a rebound making it 40-27, Pusteoska dropped in a free throw, followed by a pair from Benzing, to cut the gap to 40-30 with 3:46 remaining. Quillin flew in for two points with 2:53 left, making it 41-32, while Timmons scored on another putback to make it 42-34.
DeWitt’s Shawn Gilbert, a 6-9, 315-pound center, led all with 26 points, while Quillin led Solon with 12. Unofficially for Solon: Scoring- Quillin 12, Benzing nine, Pusteoska five, Cayden Knipper and Timmons four, Foster three.
“This is the game we had to have,” Galpin said. “An ugly dogfight of a battle. We got some stops and in the second quarter we had a chance to make a run…we just didn’t. We were at 16 (points) for a really long time and that hurt us. They made a little run in the third quarter, and really, that’s the difference in the game.”
Galpin pointed out, “We’re a scrappy team, we guard hard. We just didn’t have enough shots tonight.”
Solon finished with a 15-10 record overall, 11-6 in the WaMaC East.
DeWitt improved to 18-6 and advanced to the State Tournament to face Decorah (22-1) in the quarterfinals on Tuesday, March 8.
The Spartans’ efforts were rewarded Wednesday, March 2, as the WaMaC conference released its All-Conference teams for the East and West divisions with four Solon players recognized. Pusteoska was a unanimous First Team pick, Timmons was a Second Team pick and Benzing and Quillin received WaMaC Recognition, formerly Honorable Mention. Solon loses Quillin, Brady Mullen, Carson Miller, Timmons, Logan Sieverding, Pusteoska, Grant Gerdin and Knipper to graduation.
Coach Jared Galpin motivates his team during a time out in the 3A-4 Championship game Monday, Feb. 28, at Mount Vernon High School. The Spartans fell, 47-37, to Central DeWitt, ending Solon’s season with a 15-10 record.