Although only six teams were in the high school division at the Solon Cage
Classic AAU Basketball Tournament, people knew the Cleveland Titans would most
likely meet up with Sideline in the finals. On Sunday April 2nd, 2006, the
highly anticipated game took place in the finals of the tournament and the game
lived up to its billing.
Coached by Tim Hewitt, the Cleveland Titans brought out a ton of talent onto
the floor all night long with All-Ohio center Dallas Lauderdale, Ohio State
recruit David Lighty, Penn State bound David Jackson, Duquesne recruit Steve
McNeese, who scored 2500 points in his high school career, and potential
Division I college players Patrick Hewitt, Billy Grant, Charles Osby, and
Antonio DiMaria. They were set to do battle with Sideline, a team that did not
have a close game until the finals.
Sideline, coached by John Morgan was led by Dayton recruit Marcus Johnson,
Joe Davis, who is being recruited by Manhattan, Glenville’s big man Justin Dobbins, and college prospects Jahmil Rippy, Anthony Lumpkin, and Donzelle
Moore.
Knowing that Sideline had a great team, Coach Hewitt decided that his Titans
team would start out defensively with a zone to challenge them to hit their
outside shots. Hewitt’s plan worked immediately because while Sideline was
unable to hit their shots in the beginning of the game, Pat Hewitt hit NBA range
three-pointers scoring 17 points, Lighty hit his inside jump shots for a total
of 23 points, and Lauderdale played dominant inside scoring 10 points and
blocking four shots. With Osby and Grant able to contain the outside shooting of
Sideline with stellar defense, the Titans jumped out to a 15-6 lead with 10:40
left in the first half.
Lighty’s ability to work inside and hit free throws kept the Titans well
ahead 24-8 before a huge Dobbins dunk that shook the gym. Dobbins tried to get
the team going for Sideline, but could not do so because Lauderdale blocked two
of his attempted shots and contained the big Tarblooder in the beginning.
With 7:09 remaining in the first half Lighty stole an attempted pass by
Lumpkin, sprinted down the court, and when he was met by Davis on the other end
of the court, the future Buckeye did a spin move followed by a NBA tomahawk dunk
that gave the Titans a 26-11 lead. Penn State bound forward David Jackson
started heating up inside hitting two back to back jump shots to extend the
Titans lead to 30-13. Jackson finished the game with 23 points for the Titans.
As it looked like Sideline made some on-court adjustments, Hewitt hit yet
another NBA range three-pointer to give his team another boost giving them an
extending their lead to 33-15 with just 5:30 remaining in the first half.
Towards the end of the first half, Sideline closed in on their 18 point
deficit with Davis hitting consecutive three-pointers, future Dayton Flyer and
former Lebron James teammate Marcus Johnson scoring inside and Dobbins making
four consecutive free-throws. Sideline went into halftime with momentum although
still down 45-32 at halftime.
Right out of halftime on the Titans first possession Hewitt got the ball into
Lauderdale where he slammed it to give extend the Titans lead to 47-32, however
Sideline guard Anthony Lumpkin who played for the Bedford Bearcats answered with
three-pointer putting his team in position to make a run.
With 14 minutes left in the game, Sideline put on a run that included a
three-pointer by Davis, a huge dunk by Johnson, and another three-pointer by
Rippy, however an easy lay-in by Lauderdale stopped the run, but Sideline did
some damage with the Titans now only leading 51-47.
Following Lauderdale’s lay in Davis hit another three-pointer, pulling his
team within one point of the Titans, and after another Lauderdale lay up, Davis
came down the court and again hit a deep three-pointer sending his bench into a
frenzy at 12:01 left to play in the game and the score tied 53-53.
With Lauderdale coming out of the game with a cramp in his left leg, both
Sideline and the Titans scored at will. And when Sideline took the lead for the
first time on a Marcus Johnson three-pointer, Sideline extended their lead to
66-62 on a three with 7 minutes to play.
Although momentum seemed to be with Sideline, the Titans stormed back on
Osby’s lay up and a David Jackson jumper tying the game at 66-66 with 4:55 to
play in the game. As Sideline regained their lead on a Lumpkin three-pointer,
Grant, teammates with Hewitt and Lauderdale for Solon High, scored a jumper
making it a one-point game. Future Nittany Lion Jackson hit a foul shot tying
the score again at 71-71.
Ohio State recruit David Lighty who earned MVP of the tournament hit a jumper
giving his team a 73-71 lead with just 3:32 left in the entire game. But after a
Davis free throw and a Dobbins lay up, Sideline regained the lead 74-73 with
2:35 left in the game.
With 42 seconds left in the ball game, Sideline called a timeout after
Jackson got a nice pass from Osby, and was able to lay it up for two points
giving the Titans an 80-78 lead. Out of the timeout Lumpkin was able to make a
three-pointer with a hand in his face putting the score at 81-80, with just 17
seconds left to play, Coach Hewitt immediately called a timeout to set up the
game winning play for the Titans.
Although it seemed the game could be over because of a comeback of 21 points
by Sideline, the Titans never gave up, and on a pass from Osby, future Ohio
State Buckeye David Lighty hit a inside jumper with 2.5 seconds left to give the
Cleveland Titans a lead they would not relinquish and the win 82-81. The shot
gave the Cleveland Titans the title of Solon Cage Classic Champions.
The play of Lighty was truly special in this game, Sideline Coach John Morgan
said.
“I really like Lighty’s game,” he said. “No complaining, hard nosed, and he
is just strictly basketball, I like that a lot. He is a great player.”
“This game could have gone either way, our defensive intensity was lacking in
the beginning, but Lighty is a great player,” possible Manhattan recruit Joe
Davis said.
“We could have come out with this game,” he added. “But Lighty is a great
player, and great players make great shots, and that’s what he did at the end of
the game.”
Although up by 21 points, assumptions were made that Marcus Johnson was going
to get going for Sideline after halftime and he did, Titans coach Tim Hewitt
said.
“Eventually Marcus Johnson was able to score some big points for them, but
Joe Davis was just scintillating, he caught fire, and single handedly brought
them back into the game,” Hewitt said. “So we went off the 3-2 zone and went to
a diamond-and-1, and Charles Osby, a great defender was able to take Davis out
of his rhythm.”
When Dallas’s leg cramped up it hurt the team, with him the game would have
probably been a lot different, Hewitt explained.
“Dallas, Billy, and Patrick have played in close games all year long together
for Solon, and that’s usually when the three of them start stepping up in a big
game like this.”
Knowing they were a good team when the team was up by 21, it was not
surprising when they got back it in, future Penn State forward David Jackson
said.
“When Sideline came back in it, I got a little nervous, but I knew we would
pull out the victory at the end, I knew Lighty was going to hit that big shot at
the end of the game.”
Just trying to come off the screen for the game winner was tough, Ohio State
bound guard David Lighty said.
“I wanted to just come off the screen and hit the jumper but big Justin
Dobbins was in my face so I had to fade away a little bit,” he said. “But
luckily I made it and we got the win.”
Noteworthy:
-In the morning game the Cleveland Titans played against Cuzy’s All-Stars and
scored 107 points for the victory. Solon players Billy Grant, Patrick Hewitt,
and Dallas Lauderdale scored 63 of those 107 points.
-In making his decision to pick Ohio State, David Lighty said, “That’s all
about the coaches, the facilities Ohio State has, and the campus. Hopefully we
can get Big Dallas to get down there with me.”
-Forward Patrick Hewitt hit three NBA range 3-pointers a long with two other
regular 3-pointers in the game against Sideline in the finals.
-Forward Billy Grant had 23 points which included four big dunks by the Solon
senior in the quarterfinals game against Cuzy’s All-Stars.
-All-Ohio center Dallas Lauderdale is doing just fine, after coming out of
the game with a leg cramp early in the second half.
-Coming up for the Cleveland Titans is two big tournaments one in Pittsburgh
and the other at Akron. Results and possibly stories will be posted on how the
team plays at these tournaments.