Ryan Murken

Your Prep Sports

SOLON – There is no greater motivator for a team than having its season on the line.

Except perhaps facing a team that it just lost to in a game to extend the season.

That was the situation for Solon on Monday as the Spartans avenged a regular season loss to Center Point-Urbana with a 42-32 win over the Stormin’ Pointers in the postseason opener for both teams in Solon.

“That kind of gave us more passion going into the game,” Solon senior Jake Quillin said of a two-point loss to CPU last Tuesday. “We knew all their sets and what they were going to do so defensively we played great.”

Six days after falling to Center Point-Urbana 37-35 on the same court Solon (14-9) never trailed on Monday while advancing to the Class 3A, Substate 4 semifinals.

Solon will get another shot at avenging a regular season loss from last week on Thursday when it travels to fifth-ranked Washington (19-3) for a Substate 4 semifinal.

Washington defeated Solon 41-34 in the regular season finale for both teams on Thursday.

“It was great having a preview of the week before to see what we needed to learn,” Solon sophomore Jake Benzing said. “Clearly it has helped so far.”

Benzing helped Solon take control early on Monday.

The sophomore hit his first two shots as Solon went 6-of-8 from the field in the opening quarter while taking a 13-3 lead.

“We just had a different mindset than the first game, we were more locked in and we were playing a lot harder and more aggressive,” Benzing said. “We set the tone early with that more aggressive mindset and we just took it from there.”

Solon led 20-8 at the half after holding Center Point-Urbana to just 3-of-22 shooting from the floor in the first half.

The Stormin’ Pointers didn’t help themselves going 1-of-6 from the free throw line in the opening half.

“We made shot some shots and we played good defense last week but this game I think we were even better,” Quillin said. “They only had eight points in the first half its hard to come back after that.”

Quillin didn’t take a shot attempt in a first half in which the senior point guard picked up three fouls and spent extended time on the bench.

He gave Solon a spark in the third quarter with a pair of three-pointers.

Quillin hit a triple from the top of the key 49 seconds into the second half and beat the third-quarter pull with another pull-up three to put Solon up 31-16.

“I wasn’t really letting the game come to me early,” Quillin said. “The second half I just settled down and let the game come to me.”

Center Point-Urbana made a run in the fourth quarter.

The Stormin’ Pointers got as close as 37-32 on a three-pointer by Kanon Tupa with 1:53 left but Solon scored the final five points to put the game out of reach.

“We hit some shots tonight and that gave us some confidence but we knew they were going to make a run,” Galpin said. “They are a good team and they play hard, they have us scouted and know what we do well but we were just tougher at the end.”

Benzing had 12 of his game-high 16 points in the first half and Quillin had all eight of his points after halftime.

Kinnick Pusteoska added seven points and six rebounds for the Spartans.

“We have kind of struggled offensively all year so to get out to a good start and get up big in the first quarter,” Quillin said. “That is what we needed.”

Center Point-Urbana             3   5   8   16  –  32

Solon                                            13  7  11  11  –  42

Solon (42) – Jake Quillin 3-5 0-0 8, Carson Miller 0-1 0-0 0, Jacob Timmons 2-5 0-3 4, Kinnick Pusteoska 3-4 1-2 7, Jake Benzing 7-14 0-0 16, Sean Stahle 1-3 3-4 5, Gehrig Turner 0-3 0-0 0, Cayden Knipper 1-3 0-0 2, Totals 17-38 4-9 42.

Center Point-Urbana (32) – Brandon Miller 1-3 0-0 2, Easton Tupa 3-10 0-0 8, Kanon Tupa 2-6 0-0 8, Drew Johannes 2-4 0-1 4, Braylon Havel 0-2 0-2 0, Cole Werner 1-1 0-0 2, Blayze Havel 0-0 0-2 0, Tucker Clark 3-6 0-0 6, Gabe Hansen 2-11 1-2 5, Totals 14-43 1-7 32.

Three-point field goals – SOL 4-10 (Quillin 2-3, Miller 0-1, Timmons 0-1, Benzing 2-5), CPU 3-15 (E. Tupa 2-7, K. Tupa 1-4, Br. Havel 0-1, Clark 0-1, Hansen 0-2). Rebounds – SOL 33 (Pusteoska 6), CPU (Clark 5, E. Tupa 5). Turnovers – SOL 16, CPU 10. Total fouls – SOL 12, CPU 14. Fouled out – None. Technical fouls – None.

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