Ryan Murken

Your Prep Sports

TIFFIN – Jared Galpin painted the picture for his Solon team in the pregame locker room.

A conference game, against a rival, on the road in front of a large crowd.

A strong start Galpin told his team was going to be critical.

The Spartans heard every word.

Solon raced to a 11-3 lead in the opening three minutes and never looked back on its way to a 71-52 win over Clear Creek Amana (1-1) in the WAMAC Conference opener for both teams on Friday night in Tiffin.

“The start is always important, especially in a game this this,” Solon junior Grant Gordon said. “You want to come out and punch them in the mouth and coach Galpin preached to us that they are a good team playing at home on Friday night and it’s going to be packed so we have to come out ready.”

Gordon hit two of his three 3-pointers during the 11-3 burst to open the game as Solon jumped out to a 21-7 lead after the first quarter.

Tate McCullom had 11 of his game-high 22 points, including three 3-pointers during a 25-point Solon second quarter as the Spartans built an insurmountable 46-21 halftime edge.

“That was our message, we wanted to get out to a hot start and that starts on the defensive end of the floor and then our execution on offense,” Galpin said. “We preached that the last two days and it showed in the first half.”

Gordon finished with 13 points, Kaden Hoeper had nine points and eight rebounds and Tanner Heims and Maddox Kelley each had seven points for Solon as the Spartans improved to 2-0.

Solon shot 42 percent from the floor, forced 23 Clear Creek Amana turnovers and drilled 12 3-pointers while winning its fourth straight over the Clippers.

“Getting this win is huge,” Galpin said. “WAMAC wins on the road are not easy and this is high-quality team that is going to win a lot of games in the WAMAC so to get this one early is big for us.”

Gordon and McCullom each had two 3-pointers and combined for 14 of the Spartans 21 first-quarter points.

McCullom hit three 3-pointers in a span of less than 90 seconds in the second quarter as Solon pushed its lead to 44-13.

“Tate played phenomenal which is big for us,” Gordon said. “If he keeps playing the way he is the sky is the limit for us.”

Meanwhile, Solon held Clear Creek Amana to 16 field goal attempts in the first half while forcing 13 turnovers before halftime.

“Maddox (Kelley) did a good job on (Clear Creek Amana leading scorer Beckett) Boeset, he’s a good player,” Gordon said. “Their offense kind of goes through him and Maddox, and the rest of the guys helping, did a good job on him.”

Boeset finished with 21 points for Clear Creek Amana while sophomore Carson Meskimen had 11 points.

After back-to-back road games to open the season Solon hosts Grinnell (0-2) on Tuesday.

“I hope this gives us some momentum going into the next few games,” Gordon said. “This is a big win for us early.”

Solon                                      21  25  11  14  –  71

Clear Creek Amana            7   14  14  17  –  52

Solon (71) – Tate McCollum 6-21 5-6 22, Tyler Greazel 1-2 0-0 3, Maddox Kelley 2-7 0-0 7, Grant Gordon 5-7 0-0 13, Kaden Hoeper 4-8 0-0 9, Owen Bock 1-2 0-0 2, Luke Merrick 1-4 0-0 2, Ethan Ulch 2-3 0-0 5, Nick Stahle 0-1 0-0 0, Simon Einwalter 0-2 2-2 2, Tanner Heims 3-3 1-1 7, Totals 25-59 10-11 71.

Clear Creek Amana (52) – Beckett Boeset 8-12 4-4 21, Silas Cobb 0-0 0-2 0, Carson Meskimen 4-9 2-3 11, Noah Evans 2-3 1-2 5, Myles Howell 1-1 2-2 4, Kyle Vogel 0-0 2-2 2, Alex DuBay 4-4 1-1 9, Avery Sorensen 0-1 0-0 0, Totals 19-33 12-16 52.

3-point field goal – CCA 2-10 (Boeset 1-4, Howe 0-1, Meskimen 1-4, Evans 0-1), SOL 12-33 (McCollum 5-15, Greazel 1-2, Kelley 1-5, Gordon 3-4, Hoeper 1-2, Merrick 0-2, Ulch 1-2, Stahle 0-1). Rebounds – CCA 22 (Boeset 5), SOL 30 (Hoeper 8). Turnovers – CCA 23, SOL 12. Total fouls – CCA 12, SOL 15. Fouled out – CCA (Howe). Technical fouls – None.

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