SOLON — The Spartans opened the 2023-2024 varsity season with a pair of wins as they knocked off Vinton-Shellsburg and Grinnell.
Solon 77
Vinton-Shellsburg 38
The Spartans jumped out to a 17-7 lead at the end of the first period Tuesday, Dec. 5 in Vinton. By halftime the boys were up 47-16 thanks to a 30-point barrage, and the pummeling of the Vikings continued in the third as Solon put up 16 points while holding their hosts to only six points in the quarter for a 63-22 advantage. Vinton-Shellsburg’s best quarter came in the fourth as they outscored Solon 16-14, but the Spartans coasted to the victory.
Rylen Stiegelmeyer led all with 17 points, Gehrig Turner put up 13 with 11 by Vince Steinbrech, seven from Jace Janssen, six from Austin Knight and Jake Benzing, five points by Nolan Seagren, four from Brett White, three apiece by Isaiah Zoske and Will Cusick, and two points from Gavin Chhabra-Miller. Turner led on the boards with seven rebounds, Seagren made five assists with four each by Stiegelmeyer and White, and four steals each by Stiegelmeyer and Turner.
“We had a good first week of games,” said Head Coach Jared Galpin. “It was nice to finally start playing after three weeks of practice. The team prepared well leading up to our first game against Vinton-Shellsburg. I thought we got off to a slow start in the game offensively, but our defensive energy caused them problems, and we were able to turn them over and get out on the fast break and get easy baskets. We didn’t run much half-court offense in that game, the guys played fast, and we shot the ball really well.”
Solon 73 Grinnell 64
Last Friday’s game against Grinnell marked the first appearance by the Tigers as a WaMaC West team and provided the first challenge of the new season for the Spartans. The Tigers struck first and led 8-6 in the first period until Stiegelmeyer sank a three-pointer for a 9-8 lead. Solon would not trail from that point on and built a 20-10 lead at the end of the first with a pair of threes by Benzing, and a second from Stiegelmeyer. Stiegelmeyer sank his third three-pointer to open the second period. The Tigers put up a six-point run narrowing the gap to 23-19 but Solon led 37-24 at halftime helped in part by three-point baskets from Benzing and Turner.
Solon went up 45-31 in the third as Benzing and Steinbrech put up field goals and led 52-46 at the end of the period. However, a significant foul sent a Tiger to the line after time had expired for three free throws, with all three finding their mark to make it 52-49 heading into the final eight minutes. The Tigers clawed their way back in the fourth trailing 64-60 with less than two minutes remaining and cut it to 64-62. A Turner three-pointer gave the Spartans a 67-64 cushion with about a minute left to play. Stiegelmeyer and Benzing went to the charity stripe in the final 36 seconds for a total of six free throws to put the game away.
Stiegelmeyer and Benzing led all with 22 points each including four three-pointers for Benzing and three for Stiegelmeyer. Steinbrech had a 17-point night with ten from Turner and two from Knight. Knight led on the boards with eight rebounds, Benzing had seven with five from Steinbrech. Knight and Steinbrech made three assists each with a pair of steals by Steinbrech and Benzing.
“Friday’s game against a good Grinnell team was a good test for us,” said the coach. “They are a big team that runs their offense well and rebounds really well. We had a 13-point half time lead that got cut to two points twice in the second half. We got some timely stops and Gehrig Turner hit a big 3-pointer to put us up by five points with less than a minute remaining. We made our free throws down the stretch.”
Early in the season, but
Galpin is seeing good things
“We are an experienced group with some seniors and juniors getting experience. It is still early in our season, and we have some learning and growing to do, but I like where we are right now,” he said. “Rylen Stiegelmeyer has gotten off to a great start offensively. He’s shooting 54% from the floor and 41% from 3. Gehrig has always been solid for us for the past two years. He is consistent and a coaching extension on the floor. Vince Steinbrech has put a lot of work into his game since baseball ended and he is playing well. He 61% from the floor and playing great defense for us. Jake Benzing draws a lot of attention from opposing teams. He is a versatile scorer and after a slow first game, he came out against Grinnell and scored 22 points, shooting 50% from the floor.”
Upcoming events
Friday, Dec. 15 – Home vs. Marion, 7:15 p.m. (JV girls and freshmen boys at 4:30 p.m., varsity girls and sophomore boys at 6:00, frosh-soph girls at 7:15)
Saturday, Dec. 16 – Home vs. West Branch, 4:30 p.m. (freshmen game at 1:30, sophomores at 3:00 p.m.)
Tuesday, Dec. 19 – At CPU, 7:15 p.m. (JV girls and soph boys at 4:30, varsity girls and frosh boys at 6:00, and frosh-soph girls at 7:00 p.m.)
Thursday, Dec. 21 – Home vs. Mid-Prairie, 7:15 p.m. (JV girls and frosh boys at 4:30, varsity girls and soph boys at 6:00 p.m.)
WaMaC East standings
Conference Overall
Solon 2-0 2-0
Mount Vernon 1-0 2-2
Independence 1-2 2-2
Marion 0-0 2-2
CPU 0-2 0-4
West Delaware 0-2 0-4
Jake Benzing (15) goes up for two Friday, Dec. 8 at home against Grinnell. The Spartans improved to 2-0 with a 73-64 win including 22 points from Benzing, a senior.