The Solanco boys basketball team lost twice last week. Palmyra topped the Mules 57-41 in a game at Manheim Central Saturday, January 11. Colesen Sheaffer scored 12 points to lead Solanco. Zed Baker notched nine and Ryan Smith supplied eight. Jalen Henry and Tyler Burger each chipped in six.
Cocalico 62, Solanco 41 The visiting Eagles scored the last 13 points of the first quarter and cruised to the victory Friday night, January 10. Cocalico opened in a fullcourt trapping defense which the Mules handled well initially. Ryan Smith buried a three-pointer to tie the game and a free throw from Tyler Burger and two more from Colesen Sheaffer gave Solanco a 9-6 lead. It was all Cocalico after that. Trey Rios tied the game and started the spurt with his first of six three-pointers on the night. Rios finished with a game-high 22 points. "With our program right now, we don't have too many things that are huge gaps and big problems," Solanco coach David Long said. "But it's just the little details like where we're supposed to be. When we were successful early we were filling our high post and our low post spots, which is what we preach. You have to penetrate with the pass, get the ball inside the defense. For whatever reason, they keep trapping us and the pressure gets to our head and then we just kind of space out. In stead of that guy flashing to the middle he's on the opposite side of the court. His justification is he's open but he's not realizing you can't get the pass to him so it doesn't matter how open you are. If we make that pass, they're jumping the passing lanes. We're at a moment where we just have to start learning details, the small things. The scoreboard is not going to ever tell you, but I think we're moving in the right direction. They struggled to guard us man-to-man, which is a step that we needed. Now, we prepare for one thing and we do it well but we haven't got to the point where we can adjust. They throw a curve ball and we're not sure how to attack it yet." Solanco trailed 27-14 at halftime and never got closer than that the rest of the way. Cocalico led by as many as 20 in the third quarter before the Mules whittled the deficit back down to 13 on a three-pointer by Ethan Clary, two Zed Baker free throws, and a Jalen Henry basket. But Rios started the fourth quarter with another three-pointer and the Eagles pulled away again. Smith led the Mules with 13 points and Henry finished with 11. Long says Solanco will continue to battle despite several lopsided losses. "I really preach that we need to focus on what's in front of us," said Long. "That goes back to being detail-oriented. Going back to games we won, we come into the locker room, we celebrate, we enjoy it, but we've always got to move on. That's the thing with us and that's something the guys do really well. They come out and they just work. It's always what's next whether we win or lose. We don't really play results. We don't really talk results that much. I think that's the best way to keep our guys fighting. Part of that is the guys have to be willing to do that. Our last two practices were probably our best two practices of the year. I don't think many teams can have as many 20-point losses as us and keep fighting. I think that shows a lot of maturity for them at a young age. I'm proud of our guys. They're fighting. We've learned how to handle the really big things and now the details are our next step." Solanco won the Junior High game 42-18. Comments are closed.
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