Pat Harty

Your Prep Sports

IOWA CITY – The Solon boys basketball team refused to let a devastating loss on Friday to a traditional rival turn into another loss on Saturday to a traditional rival.

Less than 24 hours after losing to Mount Vernon on a last-second shot, the Spartans bounced back to defeat Regina 48-42 on Saturday afternoon at the Regina gymnasium.

The Solon players were so determined to bounce back from Friday’s 63-61 loss that they held a players-only shoot-around on Saturday morning at the suggestion of senior guard Ben Krutzfeldt and sophomore forward A.J. Coons.

“Me and A.J. talked about what we can do to help our team,” Krutzfeldt said. “We were looking at where we were struggling and we thought the pressure, obviously, last night that we experienced with Mount Vernon kind of affected us.

“So we got some shooting in with hands in our faces and stuff like that and practiced shooting against defenses.”

The Solon players also made a commitment to perform better on defense, and then practiced what they preached by holding Regina 23 points below its 65.4 per-game scoring average.

“Last night, we did not play good defense,” Krutzfeldt said. “(Mount Vernon) scored on like its last seven possessions against us.

“So today, we were like, ‘okay, we need to lock in on defense, because offensively, wasn’t a problem last night. So we knew that we’d win this game tonight on the defensive end.”

Senior Luke Ira led the defensive effort by holding Regina sharpshooter Jocoa Kerschen to just five points, which is eight below his per-game average.

Kerschen also entered Saturday’s game with a team-leading 26 3-point baskets, but was shut out from behind the arc against Ira and his cohorts.

“Luke Ira did a great job on him,” Krutzfeldt said. “That was his assignment today and he did a great job covering him. So I have to give all credit to him.”

The Spartans only made 16-of-51 field-goal attempts and were held to just three field goals in the third quarter.

But they compensated on defense by holding Regina to 15 made field goals, including just two in the third quarter, and by grabbing 11 offensive rebounds.

Regina also hurt its cause by missing 10-of-18 free-throw attempts.

“I’m so proud of these guys,” Solon coach Jason Pershing said of his players. “We had some breakdowns last night at the end of the game, and then the guys wanted to do a shoot-around and they ran a shoot-around without me.

“They just took some leadership and it’s a learning process. And they knew that defense was our issue and that was all we talked about. That was all it was about.”

Solon improved to 8-4 on the season, while Regina fell to 8-3 under first-year coach Jared Galpin.

“It’s a lesson for the guys to learn,” Galpin said. “We’re still learning how to win against really good teams. We didn’t shoot well from the free throw line and missed roughly ten layups and gave up 11 offensive boards.

“So any one of those things can determine a game and we had three of those things and we lost by six. So there are just some things that we’ve got to continue to work on and get better at, free throw shooting and getting on the offensive boards.”   

Krutzfeldt led Solon with 15 points and with three 3-point baskets, all of which came in the first half. He also made two free throws that expanded the lead to 48-41 with 46.6 seconds left to play.

Regina only scored one point the rest of the way on a free throw by Bryce Barnett.

The 6-foot-4 Coons finished with 13 points and also helped to contain 6-9 Regina center Even Brauns on offense. Brauns only scored four points, which is 10 below his team-leading 14.2 per-game average.

Coons also handled much of the ball-handling responsibilities on offense, showing his versatility.

“I love it,” Coons said of his role on offense and defense. “I just try to do whatever I can to help the team win.”

Brauns made up for his offensive woes by blocking eight shots and by altering countless others shots in the paint.

Solon was aggressive on defense from start to finish as the Regals struggled to get open looks near the basket and on the perimeter. Kerschen only attempted four 3-point shots.

“The game plan was to try and contest all their shots and try to keep the ball out of their shooters’ hands and make other players beat us,” Coons said.”

The Spartans bolted to a 12-3 lead and led 29-22 at halftime. Coons made three consecutive baskets to expand Solon’s lead to 26-17, but Regina guard Masen Miller answered with a 3-pointer that trimmed the lead to six points.

Solon led 37-27 heading to the fourth quarter, but Regina scored the first five points in the fourth quarter, cutting the deficit in half.

Miller made another trey that cut the deficit to 42-39 with 1:47 remaining, but the Spartans secured the victory by making six consecutive free throws in the final 1:24 of the game.

“We tried to have the mentality just off to the next one, try to move on and try to be focused on this game,” Coons said. “Learn from the loss last night, but not let it affect how we play today.”

Pershing was reluctant to call the loss to Mount Vernon a wake-up call, but it seems to have lit a spark.

“I don’t want say it was a wake-up call, but you’ve got to be accountable for your actions,” Pershing said. “And we as a team were not accountable toward the end of the game last night.”

Krutzfeld’s senior year now includes victories over Regina in football and basketball.

“We beat them in football this year and that was nice, and to beat them in basketball is even better,” Krutzfeldt said.”

Solon    17 12  8  11 – 48

Regina  12  10  5  15 – 42

Solon (48) – A.J. Coons 5-15 3-5 13, Ben Krutzfeldt 4-10 4-4 15, Cam Miller 2-9 0-0 6, Luke Ira 1-9 2-2 5, Luke Schaekenbach 2-4 0-1 4, Jack Stahle 2-3 0-0 5, Jackson Pipolo 0-1 0-0 0, Greg Brandt 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 16-51 9-14 48.

Regina (42) –  Even Brauns 1-8 2-4 4, Masen Miller 4-15 2-2 12, Jocoa Kerschen 2-7 1-3 5, Jake Phillips 1-9 0-2 2, Zach Seaman 2-3 0-01 5, Luke Stein 2-3 0-0 5, Blake Berns 2-2 0-0 4, Bryce Barnett 0-0 3-6 3, Ryne Schooley 0-1 0-0 0, Nick Wagner 1-1 0-0 2. Totals 15-49 8-18 42.

3-point goals – Solon 7 (Krutzfeldt 3, Cam Miller 2, Ira, Stahle); Regina 4 (Masen Miller 2, Seaman, Stein. Fouls – 14, Regina 15.