Before Solon’s second round district playoff game against Cleveland Heights
at Cleveland South High School, legendary Heights coach James R. Cappelleti said
that his Tigers would try to do two things: attempt to force junior All-Ohio
center Dallas Lauderdale out of his normal game, and not give the Comets as many
wide open shots from the outside as they did the first time the two teams played
earlier in the season when Solon prevailed.
Unfortunately for the Tigers, Coach Cappelleti’s plan did not go as well as
he may have liked. While Lauderdale was in foul trouble most of the night and
had what was for him an average night with 13 points, 9 rebounds, and 4 blocked
shots, the 6-9 junior did come alive when his team needed him and along with
senior forward Patrick Hewitt, who set a school record by hitting six 3-pointers
and finished up with 29 points on the night to give Solon a 71-61 victory to put
them in the district semi-finals against the 4th-seeded St. Ignatius Wildcats.
Unlike the first game the two teams played, Cleveland Heights gave Solon all
they could handle for the first three quarters. The Tigers jumped out to a 4-0
lead, and the Comets quickly realized that they were in for a real test. Heights
continually posed problems with their 2-3 zone defense on Solon. With the clock
running down in the first quarter and the score tied at 14-14, senior guard
Billy Grant threw up a miraculous three-pointer from half court at the buzzer
giving Solon a 17-14 lead after the first quarter.
With the Solon fans still celebrating the half-court desperation shot by
Grant, Cleveland Heights sophomore Charles Turnbo quickly quieted the crowd with
a long three to even the game at 17-17. Coach Cappelletti obviously felt the
presence of the 6-9 Lauderdale, and did a good job of containing him with 6-8
senior Samuel Hughes who finished with 17 points of his own. However Coach
“Capp” soon learned about the 6-2 senior forward Hewitt when he answered
Turnbo’s three with one of his own putting Solon ahead 20-17.
However the complexion of the game quickly changed with 7:10 left to play in
the second quarter when Lauderdale, who averaged a double-double during the
regular season, would pick up his second foul. He could no longer play his
intimidating game for the rest of the quarter, allowing Heights many second and
third chance scoring opportunities.
Solon and Cleveland Heights took turns leading the game throughout the second
quarter with numerous lead changes and ties. Solon’s scoring was distributed
equally among all their players while Height’s points came from Hughes, Turnbo,
and 6-5 sophomore Travis Kelce who hustled all over the court. Solon got the
ball with 20 seconds left in the first half and played for the last shot. Senior
Steve Valentino dished the ball off to Hewitt who hit a three-pointer with just
6 seconds remaining, putting Solon ahead at halftime 38-32.
Heights was able to capitalize on Lauderdale picking up his third foul early
in the third quarter, and their 2-3 defense along with the 6-8 Hughes continued
to stifle Lauderdale. Hewitt continued his hot hand and hit an assortment of
shots. However after a Hewitt three-pointer with 4:32 left in the quarter
Heights went on a 4-0 run to tie the score 45-45 forcing Solon coach Todd Van
Reeth to call a timeout with four minutes left in the 3rd quarter.
Solon would lose the lead for the last time with 2:30 left in the third
quarter at 48-46. They must have listened to their coach’s direction as they
stormed back and scored nine straight points capped by yet another Hewitt three
pointer and Solon took a commanding 55-48 lead.
Furious with his team, Cappelletti called a timeout, with just 26 seconds
left in the third. Right out of the timeout Lauderdale would make his presence
felt more and more by blocking two shots from Heights to end the third quarter
with Solon ahead 55-48 in a lead that they would not relinquish.
The fourth quarter was all Solon from the beginning when junior Anthony Burns
threw up an alley-oop giving Lauderdale a monster dunk that caused the entire
gym to erupt and brought the Solon student section into a frenzy. Following the
alley-oop dunk, Solon would go on a 6-0 run taking a 60-48 lead.
Lauderdale came alive with two more big-time dunks as Solon would go up
65-53, Heights became frustrated and fouled Lauderdale allowing him to pick up a
few more points from the charity stripe. Solon then began to kill the clock with
a four corner that would make Dean Smith proud. Heights would go on to hit a
couple of late three pointers; however, the first seeded Solon Comets would go
on to record a 71-61 victory.
Going in, Solon knew what to expect from Cleveland Heights even though Kelce
and Turnbo did not play the last time the two teams met earlier in the year,
said Hewitt.
“They chose to be in our bracket and that fired us up,” Hewitt added. “We
knew they were a good team but we felt we were the better team, and I knew I
would have some open shots that I would have to make in order to help us win.”
Top seeded Solon advances to the district semi-finals where they will play
4th seeded Cleveland St. Ignatius on March 8th, at 6:30 P.M. St. Ignatius
defeated Cleveland East in the game after Solon and guard Rudy Kirbus scored 48
points in their convincing 12-point victory. Both teams are familiar with each
other since they played last year in the district finals and return virtually
both starting units. Solon won last year’s game 58-50.