Sharp-Shooting Solon Surges Past Regina
Ryan Murken
Your Prep Sports
IOWA CITY – Solon left Marion on Friday night following a loss that snapped a seven-game winning streak stuck in a shooting slump.
The remedy head coach Jared Galpin prescribed for the shooting woes that plagued the Spartans the past three games was a double dose of gym time.
“Last night we struggled on offense, mainly in the second half, so coach had us come in early this morning and get some shots up,” Solon senior Jackson Link said.
The added shooting session seemed to be just what Solon needed to snap its brief slump.
A little more than 12 hours after making three 3-pointers in a 12-point loss at Marion on Friday Solon made a season-high 11 triples in a 66-56 win over Class 2A ninth-ranked Regina on Saturday afternoon in a non-conference contest in Iowa City.
“The shooting tonight compared to last night was pretty much the difference,” Solon senior Isaiah Zoske said. “We stuck to what we are good at, we know we can shoot we just have to do it and we did it today.”
Sophomore Maddox Kelley made five 3-pointers and scored a game-high 23 points as Solon shot 59 percent from the floor.
Solon made a combined eight 3-pointers in its previous three games prior to Saturday, and went a combined 5-of-36 from beyond the arc in wins over Mount Vernon and Center Point-Urbana.
On Saturday Solon was 11-of-18 from 3-point range and had three players with at least three triples.
“The last two or three games I think we were 5-of-40 or something from 3,” Zoske said. “Today was way definitely different.”
Kelley and Link each had 3-pointers during a 12-2 Solon run to close the first half that gave the Spartans a 34-26 halftime lead they would never give up.
Link, who made his second start of the season on Saturday, made back-to-back 3-pointers to open the third quarter that ignited a 12-0 Spartan run that pushed the lead to 20 points.
“They are a different team than Marion, they want to go inside and that’s why coach had me start,” Link said. “Tate (Wallace) is a heck of a player and I did my job the best I could and we battled from the start to finish.”
Regina (16-2) whittled the Solon lead to nine at 46-37 but the Spartans scored the next nine points and the Regals never got the lead up nine again.
Zoske went 3-of-4 from 3-point range and scored 19 points while Link hit three 3-pointers and had 10 points.
“I think it was just our intensity,” Zoske said. “We played a lot harder today compared to yesterday and it showed.”
Wallace had 17 points, Will Litton had 16 points and nine rebounds and Drew Greve had 15 points for Regina which had a 16-game winning streak halted with the loss.
Caleb Bock had eight points and 11 rebounds for Solon.
“Last night we had some bad things happen, we missed some shots and then we turned the ball over,” Galpin said. “Today we got in a good rhythm and because of that we were able to make shots.”
Solon 12 22 17 15 – 66
Regina 14 12 11 19 – 56
Solon (66) – Karsyn Regennitter 0-2 0-0 0, Isaiah Zoske 6-10 4-4 19, Caleb Bock 4-6 0-0 8, Nolan Seagren 1-2 0-0 2, Maddox Kelley 8-10 2-2 23, Grant Gordon 2-4 0-0 4, Jackson Link 3-6 1-2 10, Tanner Heims 0-1 0-0 0, Totals 24-41 7-8 66.
Regina (56) – Connor Nicpon 1-6 0-0 3, Drew Greve 7-15 0-0 15, Tate Wallace 7-12 3-7 17, Will Litton 7-14 0-0 16, Ben Wade 1-2 0-0 2, Tate Lynch 1-2 0-0 3, Totals 24-52 3-7 56.
3-point field goals – Solon 11-18 (Regennitter 0-1, Zoske 3-4, Bock 0-1, Kelley 5-5, Gordon 0-2, Link 3-5), Regina 5-15 (Nicpon 1-4, Greve 1-4, Litton 2-5, Wade 0-1, Lynch 1-1). Rebounds – Solon 21 (Bock 11), Regina 25 (Litton 9). Total fouls – Solon 8, Regina 10. Turnovers – Solon 11, Regina 9. Fouled out – None. Technical fouls – None
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