In the first half, it was the worst of quarters then the best of quarters. Then the same thing happened in the second half. By the time the dust had settled, Solanco had come away with a 64-56 victory over Lower Dauphin last Wednesday in the consolation game of the East Pennsboro Holiday Tournament. "It was strange," Solanco coach Scott Long said.
Playing without the injured Dylan Hastings, the Mules committed eight turnovers in the first quarter and trailed 17-8. "Out of the gate, we were trying to find out how to play without our leading scorer and we were a little hesitant," said Long. In the second quarter, Solanco turned the ball over once and outscored Lower Dauphin 26-11 to take a 34-28 halftime lead. Desmond Kreider sank three three-pointers and Colin Kilgore hit a pair from beyond the arc. "We shot the lights out," Long said. The Mules committed seven turnovers in the third quarter and fell behind 43-40 before giving the ball away once in the fourth quarter while outscoring LD 24-13. Sophomore Jon Rush provided a big boost by hitting consecutive three-pointers to start the fourth quarter and added another later in the period. Sophomore Aaron Constein handed out seven assists in the second quarter. "It was impressive for a kid in 10th grade to have that kind of impact," said Long. "He gave us a spark." Long was pleased other players stepped up for the Mules, who were missing four starters because of injury. "If we can get healthy, positives will come from this," he said. "We've had multiple guys prove they can come in and be able to contribute. It's been a case of 'next man up'. We have a lot of players who can help us and that's what happened Wednesday night. If we get healthy I feel like we can compete with everybody. Kreider finished with 24 points and was named to the all-tournament team. "In my opinion, Des was the best player in the tournament," said Long. Colin Kilgore had a season-high 11 points. "Colin did not play in the first game and we challenged him to play his game and he did just that," said Long. Mike Figueroa contributed 10 points. In the opening round on Tuesday, December 29, Solanco lost 63-61 to Red Land. The Mules trailed by five before hitting a three-pointer at the buzzer. "It was a sloppy game," said Long. "We did not play well and I don't think they played well. Their best player (Morgon Keiser) scored 23 points. We did not execute our gameplan on him. We didn't play with high energy. It was the first loss this year where I thought we were the better team and should've won. It was a tough one to take. Des played well but we need more guys to bring energy on a consistent basis." Kreider had a team-high 19 points. Figueroa added 15 points and had 11 rebounds in both games of the tournament. "The football season ran long so he's getting back to basketball mode," said Long. "Tuesday and Wednesday he really looked like he was in midseason form. It's good to see him play at such a high level because we're going to need that to compete against high-level competition like CV, Lebanon, and Garden Spot." Hastings had 12 points before suffering an injury in the third quarter. Long said Sunday the injury is not believed to be serious. The Mules travel to Garden Spot Tuesday and host Ephrata Friday. Comments are closed.
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