Ryan Murken

Your Prep Sports

MOUNT VERNON – Central DeWitt and Solon both got the type of game they expected in Monday’s Class 3A, Substate 4 final.

The Spartans even got the exact style of game it needed to pull an upset.

It was Central DeWitt that got the outcome it wanted.

Shawn Gilbert poured in a game-high 26 points as Central DeWitt secured its first trip to the state tournament since 2014 with a 47-37 win over Solon in a slugfest between former WAMAC conference rivals in Mount Vernon.

“This is the game we had to have, ugly dog fight of a battle,” Galpin said. “We got some stops in the second quarter and had a chance to make a run and we just didn’t.”

Central DeWitt (18-6) used an 11-0 run that snapped the final 1:17 of the third quarter and opening two minutes of the fourth quarter to break opening a four-point game.

Senior Gibson McEwen had all six of his points during that stretch and sophomore guard Gus Pickup and a three-pointer in the 11-0 burst that put Central DeWitt up 40-25 with under six minutes to play.

Considering that Gilbert, the Sabers 6-foot-9 center, accounted for 26 of the 47 points for Central DeWitt those nine points from McEwen and Pickup were a major offensive boost.

“That was big to be able to knock a few of those shots down and then getting the ball and being able to score right away,” Central DeWitt coach Marty Marshall said. “That stretch was big. It helped separate us a little bit.”

There wasn’t much separating the two teams on Monday.

Central DeWitt led 14-13 after the first quarter before Solon took a 16-14 lead on an Oaken Foster three-pointer 64 seconds into the second quarter.

That was the final field goal of the half for Solon as the Sabers closed the quarter on a 9-2 run to take a 23-18 halftime led they would never give up.

“We missed some free throws when Shawn was on the bench and we were at 16 for a long time and that really hurt us,” Galpin said. “They made a little run in the third quarter and that was the difference.”

Solon cut the lead to four on two occasions in the third quarter but could get no closer.

The game plan was there for Solon. Grind the game down and limit possessions and post touches for Gilbert.

It worked, Solon just couldn’t do enough on offense shooting 33 percent from the field including just 27 percent over the final three quarters.

“This is how we win, we needed a game in the 40s and we had to limit Shawn’s touches and he’s such a beast to guard,” Galpin said. “We were going to run our stuff and really slow that pace game.

It was the exact style of game we needed we just needed to be able to make more shots.”

Led by Gilbert the Sabers did just enough on offense.

Gilbert made 11-of-20 field goal attempts on his way to 26 points while the rest of the Sabers combined for 21 points on 8-of-19 shooting.

“I knew that they were going to slow the game down,” Marshall said. “I wanted to try to push, we tried a little bit but we knew we were going to have to grind it out with them and we did that.”

Senior guard Jake Quillin had 12 points to lead Solon while sophomore Jake Benzing had nine points.

“Their heads were down and I got them all to stand up and I told them they have no reason to hang their heads,” Galpin said. “It sucks to lose and it hurts but man they left it all out there and that’s all we could ask them to do. That’s who we are we are a scrappy team, we guard hard we just didn’t hit enough shots tonight.”

Solon                            13  5   7  12  –  37

Central DeWitt         14  9  10 14  –  47

Central DeWitt (47) – Paul Kuehn 0-2 0-0 0, Carter Drury 1-1 0-0 2, Gibson McEwen 2-4 2-5 6, Gus Pickup 1-2 0-0 3, Matthew Watters 4-7 1-4 10, Brady Petersen 0-2 0-0 0, Ryan Watters 0-1 0-1 0, Shawn Gilbert 11-20 4-7 26, Totals 19-39 7-17 47.

Solon (37) – Jake Quillin 4-11 3-4 12, Carson Miller 0-1 0-0 0, Jacob Timmons 2-4 0-2 4, Kinnick Pusteoska 2-5 1-3 5, Jake Benzing 2-13 4-4 9, Oaken Foster 1-2 0-0 3, Sean Stahle 0-2 0-1 0, Cayden Knipper 2-2 0-0 4, Totals 13-40 8-14 37.

Three-point field goals – SOL 3-13 (Quillin 1-5, Miller 0-1, Benzing 1-4, Foster 1-1, Stahle 0-2), CD 2-7 (Kuehn 0-1, McEwen 0-1, Pickup 1-2, M. Watters 1-2, Gilbert 0-1). Rebounds – SOL 29 (Timmons 7), CD (Gilbert 5). Turnovers – SOL 11, CD 10. Total fouls – SOL 17, CD 15. Fouled out – None. Technical fouls – SOL (Quillin).

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