Ryan Murken

Your Prep Sports

SOLON – Coaches can spend hours breaking down film in an attempt to find out what went right following a win or what went awry in a loss.

Neither coach needed to turn on the tape to find the difference in Friday’s WAMAC East Division rematch between Solon and West Delaware.

Class 3A No. 8 West Delaware (12-4, 6-3 WAMAC East) shot 57 percent from the field while holding Solon to 24 percent shooting on its way to 67-33 rout of the Spartans in Solon.

The 57 percent shooting by the Hawks was a more than 20 percent increase from the first meeting between the two teams, a 53-50 win by Solon in Manchester on January 4.

“I thought we just executed better,” West Delaware coach Matt Uthoff said. “Solon came out early at our place in that first game and hit a ton of shots and when Solon hits their shots they are dangerous. That was our emphasis tonight was to run them off the line and really make it challenging and we kind of let our defensive stops feed into our offense.”

Everything about Friday’s rematch was different than the first meeting between the two teams, starting with the shooting.

After hitting a season-high 11 3-pointers in the first meeting Solon missed its first 13 attempts from beyond the arc and finished 3-of-19 from 3-point range on Friday.

Solon (7-8, 5-4) shot 18 percent from the field including 0-of-11 from 3-point range while falling into a 32-13 halftime deficit.

“We don’t play well when we miss shots early and we missed a lot of shots early,” Solon coach Jason Pershing said. “We had two layups roll in and out, two threes that looked good, we didn’t shoot the ball very well.”

Meanwhile the West Delaware duo of Kyle Kelley and Derek Krogmann couldn’t miss.

Krogmann and Kelly combined for 54 of the Hawks 67 points teaming up to go 22-of-39 from the floor. “We are a grind it out team, we are used to playing grind it out games that’s kind of how we have been built,” Uthoff said. “I think we are third in the state in defensive scoring average and we are consistently in the top five and when we can shoot it well it’s just a bonus. Then when we get Kyle going and we get Derek going it’s really hard to beat us.”

Kelley scored 14 of his 24 points in the second quarter as West Delaware pulled away.

The 6-foot-4 sophomore guard scored the first 10 points of a 17-5 West Delaware run to end the first half that turned a 15-8 game into a 19-point halftime lead.

“Kyle is a scorer and scorers score,” Uthoff said. “He is one of the most confident kids I’ve ever coached and as you saw tonight when he gets it going he can score and he can score in bunches.”

Krogmann scored 10 points during a 13-0 Hawk run to start the third quarter that pushed the lead to 45-13.

The 6-foot-7 Northern Iowa recruit finished with 30 points and 13 rebounds after being limited to 15 points in the first meeting between the teams.

“Derek normally draws two or three guys,” Uthoff said. “I thought the key tonight was our guys on the floor did a great job of spacing and moving the ball.”

AJ Coons led Solon with 11 points and Carson Shive added eight for the Spartans who were held to a season low scoring output.

The 33 points were eight fewer than the previous season-low and came after Solon scored 64 and 76 points in its previous two games.

“We just have to make shots,” Pershing said. “You look back at the whole season that is the tell tale sign from each game. I can go down the line. We have to get a couple of baskets early and see the ball go in.”

Solon                           6   7    7   13  –  33

West Delaware          13  19  19  16  –  67

Solon (33) – Nathan Steffens 0-1 0-0 0, Luke Van Roekel 0-1 0-0 0, Joe Stahle 2-4 0-0 5, Nico Longo 0-0 0-2 0, AJ Coons 4-14 2-4 11, Ben Cusick 1-2 0-0 2, Carson Shive 3-7 1-6 8, Cam Miller 1-8 1-2 3, Dave Bluder 1-6 1-2 3, Carson Yakish 0-4 0-0 0, Clay Gerdin 0-2 1-3 1, Totals 12-49 6-19 33.

West Delaware (67) – Kyle Kelley 9-16 3-5 24, Logan Woellert 1-3 0-0 2, Gavin Soppe 2-2 0-0 5, Isaiah Rich 0-1 0-0 0, Derek Krogmann 13-23 4-8 30, Eric Salow 1-2 0-0 2, Mitchell Krogmann 2-2 0-0 4, Totals 28-49 7-13 67.

3-point field goals – SOL 3-19 (Steffens 0-1, Stahle 1-2, Coons 1-3, Cusick 0-1, Shive 1-3, Miller 0-4, Bluder 0-2, Yakish 0-3), WD 4-5 (Kelley 3-3, Soppe 1-1, Rich 0-1). Rebounds – SOL 30 (Coons 8), WD (D. Krogmann 13). Turnovers – SOL 13, WD 7. Total fouls – SOL 14, WD 17. Fouled out – None. Technical fouls – None.