Ryan Murken

Your Prep Sports

IOWA CITY – In a season filled with tough breaks and tight losses first-year Solon head coach Matt Lesan felt like his team was overdue to catch or break or two.

The Spartans finally had the ball bounce their way on Saturday.

Carson Shive corralled a loose ball on the baseline and sank a eight-foot jumper as time expired to lift Solon to a 62-60 win over Regina (9-3) in an entertaining matchup of non-conference rivals in Iowa City.

“I was hoping that with how hard our kids have worked that we would get a few bounces to go our way,” Lesan said. “We finally got one to go our way tonight.”

The win snapped a three-game losing streak for Solon (4-11) which has lost four games by two points and two more in overtime.

Solon suffered its fifth loss of the season by fewer than five points on Friday, falling 70-68 to 3A seventh-ranked Mount Vernon.

“We’ve been close with so many teams we were due for sure,” Shive said. “Last night was a heartbreaker but I was glad we were able to come out and win this one.”

The buzzer beater by Shive capped a wild fourth quarter that saw the lead change hands five times in the final seven minutes.

Solon held for the final shot for more than 90 seconds, using three timeouts during that stretch in an attempt to get up the game winner.

It worked just not in the manner anyone on the Solon sideline imagined.

“We drew up a play for David (Bluder) and sometimes they don’t work out,” Shive explained. “I just tried to grab the ball and threw it up. I didn’t know how much was time was left so I was hoping I had enough time to make it and I did.”

Solon used its final timeout with 10.9 seconds left.

Bluder, who poured in a team-high 20 points, came off a screen along the baseline and caught the ball in the corner but was double teamed and his pass into the lane was deflected.

Shive beat two Regina to the loose ball, turned and fired up a short jumper from the baseline that just beat the buzzer.

“As soon as the shot went up I said that’s just how we drew it up,” Lesan said with a laugh. “We talked about making plays, and being the ones that made the plays tonight and that’s what it was at the end of the game.”

Solon needed Shive’s late-game heroics after Regina senior point guard Masen Miller orchestrated a second-half rally.

Miller scored 20 of his game-high 36 in the second half as Regina rallied from a nine-point halftime deficit.

“I have to give Regina a ton of credit,” Lesan said. “They showed a lot of fight in coming back tonight, so I was impressed with their kids tonight.”

Solon closed the first half on a 13-2 run to take a 37-28 half time lead.

The Spartans led by 10 with under four minutes to play in the third quarter when Regina mounted a rally.

Regina scored 10 straight points to tie the game at 48 and took its first lead of the half at 51-50 on a 3-pointer by Miller with 52 seconds left in the quarter.

“We had a better second half than first half as far as our aggressiveness,” Regina coach Jared Galpin said. “Rebounding was a struggle in the first half and we were a little tentative and the second half we decided we were going to guard and board and we cut a 10-point lead.”

Miller finished 14-of-23 from the field and 6-of-11 from 3-point range while posting his sixth 30-point game of the season.

The 6-foot-1 senior has scored 30 or more points in three of his last four games and is averaging 30 points per game during that stretch.

“My teammates do a great job of adjusting to defenses and getting me the ball when I’m open,” Miller said. “Tonight, I got shots to fall.”

Solon took the lead back at 53-51 when Bluder beat the third-quarter buzzer with a three-pointer from the corner.

The game went back-and-forth for the entire fourth quarter with Solon tying the game at 60-all on a Bluder layup with 2:08.

Solon the got the winning shot on a play that nearly resulted in a turnover.

“That’s a tough one,” Miller said. “We got a hand on it and that’s one of those 50-50 balls that you hope to come up with.”

Shive finished with 13 points while Cam Miller and Ben Cusick each had eight for the Spartans.

Chase Becker had 10 to go with the 36 from Miller who also had five assists and four steals.

“He’s one of the top kids in our conference in scoring and one of the top in assists and that says something,” Galpin said of Miller.  “Not only is he getting his but he’s facilitating for everyone else.”

Regina            21   7   23  9  –  60

Solon              23  14  16  9  –  62

Solon (62) – Cam Miller 3-5 0-0 8, Jake Quillen 1-2 1-2 4, Brady Jeworrek 0-1 2-2 2, Will Noonan 2-6 0-0 5, Carson Shive 4-6 2-5 13, Ben Cusick 4-8 0-0 8, David Bluder 7-14 2-2 20, Bo Janssen 0-2 0-0 0, Jake Van Roekel 0-1 0-0 0, Cayden Knipper 1-1 0-0 2, Team 22-46 11-14 62.

Regina (60) – Danny Molony 1-5 0-0 3, Masen Miller 14-23 2-3 36, Casey Daniel 0-3 0-0 0, Coltrae Kerschen 0-2 0-0 0, Chase Becker 4-7 2-2 10, Josh Dutchik 3-4 1-2 8, Andrew Wiese 1-4 1-1 3, Team 23-49 6-8 60.

3-point field goals – ICR 8-22 (Molony 1-5, Miller 6-11, Daniel 0-3, Kerschen 0-2, Dutchik 1-1), SOL 7-24 (Miller 2-3, Quillen 1-2, Jeworrek 0-1, Noonan 1-5, Shive 1-3, Bluder 2-7, Janssen 0-2, Van Roekel 0-1). Rebounds – ICR 24 (Becker 9), SOL 29 (Shive, Cusick 5). Turnovers – ICR 8, SOL 10. Total fouls – ICR 14, SOL 7. Fouled out – None. Technical fouls – None.

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