Ryan Murken

Your Prep Sports

SOLON – Caleb Bock made sure the final home game of his career was a win.

Now the Solon senior standout is one win away from getting to end his high school career at the state tournament.

Bock poured in a game-high 28 points and grabbed 11 rebounds as Solon outlasted Nevada 68-59 in overtime in a Class 3A, Substate 3 semifinal on Thursday in Solon.

“It felt amazing to walk off that court that last time with a win,” Bock said. “Our team really came together and dug deep.”

Nevada (19-5) forced overtime when John Nelson hit a 3-pointer with 2.3 seconds remaining in regulation.

Solon responded in overtime.

Sophomore Grant Gordon snapped a 58-58 tie in overtime with the go-ahead 3-pointer with 1:42 to pay as Solon (18-5) closed the game on a 10-1 run.

Solon will play at top-ranked Clear Lake (23-0) in the Substate 3 title game on Monday at 7 p.m.

Clear Lake defeated Vinton-Shellsburg 75-32 in a semifinal on Thursday.

“We regrouped and went out and kept our heads up and played tough defense one stop at a time,” Bock said. “We had some guys make some big-time shots. Grant hit a huge three in the corner.”

Bock has been at his best down the stretch averaging 26 points and eight rebounds per game over the last three games.

With the season on the line Bock came up big for Solon again on Thursday.

The 6-foot-1 senior had 12 of his game-high 28 points in the second half and overtime.

“Caleb has saved his best games for the end of the year,” Solon coach Jared Galpin said. “He was fantastic again tonight.”

Nevada led 17-14 after the opening quarter but Solon scored the final 10 points of the first half to take a 30-21 halftime lead.

Solon led 54-44 when Bock scored in the paint with 4:22 remaining but Nevada made a late charge.

The Cubs held scoreless for nearly four minutes during a 10-0 run that tied the score at 54 with 24 seconds remaining.

Gordon hit one of two free throws with 22.4 seconds remaining and Bock grabbed an offensive rebound and senior Isaiah Zoske made two free throws with 18 seconds remaining.

Nelson sent the game to overtime with a 22-foot 3-pointer from the top of the key in the final seconds.

The extra session was all Spartans.

“We didn’t hang our heads when he hit that three at the end,” Bock said. “We just came together and got some stops at the end that was huge for us.”

The teams traded free throws to start the overtime before Gordon gave Solon the lead for good.

Bock found the sophomore alone on the left wing and his only 3-pointer of the game gave Solon a 61-58 lead it would never give up.

“We got a stop and all night we were too quick pushing the ball and kind of got us out of a rhythm,” Gordon said. “On that possession we slowed down, took some time and I was open the corner and Caleb found me.”

Solon shot 47 percent from the floor but was just 4-of-17 from 3-point range on Thursday but Gordon made the only Spartan 3-point attempt of the four-minute overtime.

“We just needed to regroup,” Gordon said. “We got a couple of clutch stops and that’s what helped us.”

Solon held Nevada without a field goal in overtime, limiting the Cubs to just five field goal attempts while forcing four turnovers.

Nevada shot 32 percent from the field and had 15 turnovers.

“This is probably our best defensive game against a really good offensive team,” Galpin said. “The emphasis was rebounding and I thought for the most part we did a fantastic job on that.”

Nevada          17   4   17  19   2   –  59

Solon              14  16  11  16  11  –  68

Nevada (59) – Adam Smeenk 2-6 1-4 6, Gavin Egeland 4-10 1-2 10, Easton Gray 7-16 0-0 18, John Nelson 6-19 5-7 18, Benjamin Weiss 0-5 0-0 0, Drake Hinson 1-6 5-6 7, Totals 20-62 12-19 59.

Solon (68) – Isaiah Zoske 0-4 4-4 4, Caleb Bock 11-19 5-8 28, Nolan Seagren 2-4 0-0 0, Maddox Kelley 8-17 2-4 19, Grant Gordon 3-6 1-2 8, Kaden Hoeper 0-1 0-2 0, Jackson Link 2-4 0-0 5, Totals 26-55 12-20 68.

3-point field goals – Solon 4-17 (Zoske 0-3, Bock 1-1, Seagren 0-1, Kelley 1-7, Gordon 1-3, Link 1-2), Nevada 7-26 (Smeenk 1-4, Egeland 1-2, Gray 4-10, Nelson 1-4, Weiss 0-4, Hinson 0-2). Rebounds – Nevada 37 (Nelson 11), Solon 42 (Bock 11). Total fouls – Nevada 17, Solon 18. Turnovers – Nevada 15, Solon 16. Fouled out – Nevada (Hinson). Technical fouls – None.

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