Ryan Murken

Your Prep Sports  

SOLON – From his first day leading the Solon boys basketball program the emphasis for Jared Galpin has been defense.

Solon offered a glimpse into just how dangerous it can be on offense Tuesday during a 70-36 win over Williamsburg (1-2) in a WAMAC cross-divisional matchup in Solon.

The Spartans scored 54 points in the second and third quarters while erasing an early deficit and improving to 2-1 on the season with its second consecutive win.

“We always talk defense, we hammer it every day at practice,” Galpin said. “I think as we get our basketball legs under us, the more shots we get up and the longer we are together I think we can be a dangerous offensive team and we know we are going to guard every game.

Solon rattled off 15 unanswered points in a span of two minutes and 14 seconds at the end of the second quarter and the start of the third, turning a one-point deficit into a 16-point lead.

That was just the start as Solon blew the game open with a 22-2 run over the final 5:02 of the third quarter.

When the dust had settled it was a 39-4 Solon run that spanned a little less than 10 minutes.

“We haven’t showed that all year but that’s definitely what we do in practice,” Solon senior David Bluder said. “That showed what this team is capable of doing on offense all year.”

Solon averaged 61 points per game during a 1-1 start and didn’t look as if it would sniff the 60s during a first quarter in which the Spartans had more turnovers (8) than points (6).

Williamsburg took a 24-23 lead when freshman Derek Weisskopf converted a short jumper with 58 seconds left in the opening half.

Solon seized the momentum before halftime with eight unanswered points in the final 41 seconds.

Junior point guard Jake Quillin had a 3-pointer and a pair of free throws to start the 8-0 burst and had 12 of his 14 points in the second quarter.

“He is kind of that calming force that we needed,” Galpin said of Quillin. “He hit big shots and he kept us going. He gave us a lift when we needed it.”

Bluder capped the scoring spurt with a deep 3-pointer from the wing that just beat the halftime buzzer.

“The first quarter I feel like I was in my head a lot,” Bluder said. “That 3 really boosted my confidence going into the second half.”

The Solon momentum only picked up in the second half.

Bluder hit a 3-pointer 26 seconds into the third quarter as the Spartans scored the opening seven points of the half.

“We emphasized at half that everything that happened the first half was on us and was correctable,” Galpin said. “We just had to settle in, execute and be patient and make them play defense longer than three passes.”

Bluder hit a trio of 3-pointers in the opening four minutes of the second half as the Solon lead swelled.

The senior had 13 of his game-high 21 points in the third quarter.

“I think we were kind of hanging our heads in the middle of the second,” Bluder said. “Jake hit that 3 late and that really kind of turned it all around for us.”

Solon shot 59 percent from the field and scored 54 points during the second and third quarters while forcing the Raiders into 17 turnovers during that span.

Many of those turnovers turned into easy transition opportunities for the Spartans.

“Defense turns into offense for us with fast breaks,” Solon senior Will Noonan said. “When we are able to do that we get in the groove.”

Solon shot 49 percent from the field and was 8-of-20 from 3-point range.

Kinnick Pusteoska had 11 points to join Bluder and Quillin in double figures as seven Spartans had five or more points.

Meanwhile a Williamsburg team that entered averaging 74 points per game could get nothing going offensively.

The Raiders shot 35 percent and scored just 12 points in the second half.

“Defense turned into offense in that third quarter,” Galpin said. “We were comfortable, we were rolling and we were scoring off our defense.”

Solon                             6  25  29  10  –  70

Williamsburg             9  15   4    8   –  36

Solon (70) – Jake Quillin 4-7 4-4 14, Brady Mullen 0-2 0-0 0, Will Noonan 0-2 0-0 0, Kinnick Pusteoska 5-7 1-1 11, Carson Shive 3-5 0-0 6, Ben Cusick 3-7 0-1 6, David Bluder 7-13 2-4 21, Bo Jansseen 3-8 0-1 6, Grant Gerdin 2-5 0-0 5, Carson Miller 0-2 0-0 0, Cayden Knipper 0-0 1-2 1, Totals 27-55 8-13 70.

Williamsburg (36) – John Steinmetz 0-3 0-0 0, Jake Weber 3-4 2-2 9, Kobe Julius 4-7 0-0 8, Marshall Meyer 0-2 0-0 0, Levi Weldon 2-6 0-0 4, George Sinclair 0-1 0-0 0, Tanner Curtin 0-3 0-0 0, Trey O’Neil 0-1 0-0 0, Derek Weisskopf 4-14 1-2 9, Will DeSmet 2-2 0-1 4, Gavin Doehrmann 0-0 2-4 2, Totals 15-43 5-9 36.

3-point field goals – SOL 8-20 (Quillin 2-5, Mullen 0-1, Noonan 0-1, Bluder 5-9, Janssen 0-2, Gerdin 1-1, Miller 0-1), WB 1-16 (Steinmetz 0-1, Weber 1-1, Julius 0-2, Weldon 0-3, Curtin 0-2, O’Neil 0-1, Weisskopf 0-4). Rebounds – SOL 35 (Janssen 8), WB 30 (Weisskopf 6). Turnovers – SOL 15, WB 24. Total fouls – SOL 16, WB 15. Fouled out – None. Technical fouls – None.

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