Ryan Murken

Your Prep Sports

SOLON – In the moment the 35-second flurry from West Branch to close the first half of Monday’s non-conference matchup with Solon felt like just a blip.

By the time the clock hit triple zeroes the Bears’ 6-0 spurt at the end of the second quarter seemed like the difference in the game.

West Branch scored the first seven points of the second half and never trailed again on its way to a comfortable 63-53 win at Solon in a meeting of old Eastern Iowa Hawkeye Conference foes.

“Great teams finish halves and that’s exactly what they did, they finished the half,” Solon coach Matt Lesan said. “That was a huge momentum point. That just really put us back on our heels.”

Jeff Bowie had 13 of his game-high 23 points after halftime as West Branch (5-1) outscored Solon 38-25 in the second half.

Bowie scored four points in the final 15 seconds of the opening half to cap a 6-0 West Branch run in the final 35 seconds of the half.

The put back by the 6-foot-5 junior that just beat the halftime buzzer cut what was once a 12-point Solon lead to 28-25.

It also gave West Branch confidence and energy heading into the locker room.

“Any time you can get a roll going on offense and start getting stops on defense your team starts to build confidence,” Bowie said. “I think that really led to us starting to hit shots in the second half and we really took it away from there.”

West Branch rattled off seven straight points in less than 90 seconds to open the second half turning a nine-point deficit late in the first half into four-point lead in two minutes and two seconds of game time.

In total it was a 13-0 run that lasted 122 seconds and featured seven points from Bowie, four from Trey Eagle before being capped by a layup from senior point guard Matt Whaley.

“That run at the end of the first half propelled us and gave us all the momentum going into the second half,” West Branch coach Jason Kern said. “We came out slow and kind of methodically and we got a few turnovers and the ball started rolling. We got some easy buckets that gave us some confidence and I think that really helped us step up big in the second half.”

Solon (2-3) led 17-7 after the first quarter and by as many as 12 points in the opening half following a Bo Janssen 3-pointer with 6:38 left before halftime.

The Spartans hit 7-of-10 first quarter field goals and forced West Branch into five turnovers in the opening quarter.

“I thought we came out and really set the tone early,” Lesan said. “I thought our guys played really hard and were sharing the basketball and we had great communication and great defense.”

Solon was poised to take a sizeable lead into the break after a David Bluder bucket made it 28-19 with 1:01 left in the second quarter.

West Branch didn’t allow that to happen.

Eagled scored with 35 seconds left and following a missed Solon shot Bowie scored in the lane.

The Bears then got a big boost when Bowie put back a missed shot as time expired to cut the halftime lead to three.

It didn’t take long for the Bears to erase the lead entirely.

Eagle scored on a layup off a back cut nine seconds into the second half and Bowie converted a conventional 3-point play with 6:54 left in the third quarter to give the Bears’ their first lead since 2-0.

“The end of the first half really kicked off the second half to be honest,” Eagle said. “That was the beginning of the second half and supplied some energy for us to use coming out after halftime.”

Solon trailed 45-42 after a Bluder 3-pointer with 1:44 left in the third quarter but West Branch responded with a 10-0 run holding Solon scoreless for nearly five minutes to end the third and start the fourth quarter.

“You have to give West Branch a ton of credit,” Lesan said. “Kern has done a great job there. They are a well-coached bunch and they just kept at it.

Bowie made six of his seven field goal attempts in the second half as the Bears shot 68 percent from the floor after halftime.

The junior forward finished with nine rebounds to go with his 23 points on 11-of-13 shooting helping the Bears shoot 63 percent for the game.

“The whole first half it felt like every time I was catching the ball there were three or four guys on me,” Bowie said. “The second half we started hitting shots and really opened everything up.”

Eagle added 14 points and six rebounds while Whaley had 12 points. Tanner Lukavsky grabbed seven rebounds as the Bears held a 29-17 rebounding edge.

“Bowie was huge for us tonight,” Kern said. “Trey has been big for us this last three-game stretch and I think his confidence is just growing.”

Bluder led Solon with 23 points while Janssen had 10.

West Branch               7   18  24  14  –  63

Solon                          17  11  14  11  –  53

West Branch (63) – Matt Whaley 3-4 6-10 12, Trey Eagle 6-10 2-5 16, Thomas Gould 0-1 1-3 1, Gavin Hierseman 2-5 1-2 6, Tanner Lukavsky 2-5 1-2 5, Jeff Bowie 11-13 1-1 23, Team 24-38 12-23 63.

Solon (53) – Cam Miller 2-8 0-0 4, Brady Jeworrek 2-5 1-2 6, Westen Stiegelmeyer 0-1 0-0 0, Will Noonan 1-2 0-0 3, Carson Shive 2-5 0-0 5, David Bluder 10-13 2-3 23, Bo Janssen 4-7 0-0 10, Kinnick Pusteoska 1-4 0-0 2, Drew Turner 0-1 0-2 0, Team 22-46 3-7 53.

3-point field goals – WB 3-8 (Eagle 2-3, Gould 0-1, Hierseman 1-1, Lukavsky 0-3), SOL 6-15 (Miller 0-2, Jeworrek 1-3, Noonan 1-2, Shive 1-2, Bluder 1-4, Janssen 2-2). Rebounds – WB 29 (Bowie 9), SOL 17 (Pusteoska 4). Turnovers – WB 16, SOL 13. Total fouls – WB 11, SOL 22. Fouled out – SOL (Janssen). Technical fouls – None.

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