Solomon's Three Lifts Huber Heights Wayne Over Cincinnati Elder 47-44

[SFIND]

Wayne Wins in Final Seconds 47-44

Solomon 3 with 8 seconds left was the difference maker

By Bryant Billing

DAYTON- Like a kicker making a winning field goal in a football game, that is what Jesse Solomon did. Solomon went from a starter last year to a bench warmer this year under new Wayne head basketball coach Travis Trice. With that, he became that kid you sort of remembered was on the team. But when you needed him the most, he can through. Solomon (8 points, all in fourth quarter) made the winning three-pointer for the Wayne Warriors (22-2) with ten seconds left in the game to lift Wayne to a 47-44 win over the Cincinnati Elder Panthers (19-4).

The game was close from the beginning.

Wayne took the lead in the first, but Elder battled back to cut Wayne's lead to 10-9 with 3:47 left. The rest of the quarter went back-and-forth. Elder took a 15-12 lead off of an Andrew Wessels three-pointer with thirty-four seconds left. That was the score at the end of the first.

The second quarter was a tight quarter as well. The Warriors won the quarter 15-13, which cut Elder's lead to 28-27 at the end of the first quarter.

Then Elder looked like they were going to run away with it.

Elder started off the third quarter with a 9-1 run. Elder shut down Wayne offensively and was able to penetrate and score.

But the Panthers went cold for the rest of the game.

Wayne finished out the quarter on a 8-2 run to narrow Elder's lead to 39-36 at the end of the third.

Wayne then started off the fourth quarter on a 8-0 run, and suddenly thing were looking bad for the Panthers. Elder continued to struggle to find shots, while they could make any free-throws.

Elder then cut Wayne's lead to 44-43, where it stayed for the next three-minutes. Elder's Zach Austenreib made a foul shot for the Panthers with thirty seconds left to tie it up at 44.

But the Warriors wanted it more.

After a couple of attempts, Wayne finally got the ball down the quart. After passing it around, the Warriors found Jesse Solomon open on the wing. They passed it to him. Elder defenders raced over and applied pressure before he got the shot off. However, Solomon was able to set his feet and get a good shot off. The shot was just a little to the left, as it bounced off of the back of the rim. But it bounced almost straight up, and when it came down, it went straight through the net.

That gave Wayne a 47-44 lead with eight seconds left, but Elder still had a shot to tie it. However, they didn't make it.

The buzzer rang, and the Wayne Warriors were district champions.

A very exciting, intense game.

Wayne did a great job on defense in the fourth quarter holding the Panthers to 5 points. Elder actually looked to be more at fault at that, though. The Panthers had a horrible shot selection in the fourth. Their timing and accuracy were way off. Looked like their nerves were getting to them.

In fact, Elder struggled on offense almost all of the second half. They had a strong run at the start of the third quarter, but after that, they went cold. They only got off 14 shots total in the final 16 minutes, while Wayne got off 23.

Elder again struggled from three free-throw line. The Panthers have struggled there all year, as they did again today. Elder went 8-17 from the free-throw line. However, Elder did good 3-4 in the second half. The Warriors didn't do too much better, either, going 9-16.

Wayne was able to control Kyle Rudolph underneath. Rudolph was held to 11 points, and had to patrol underneath the entire game. DJ Lenoir (4 points) and Lamar Mallory (5 points) protected the paint for the Warrior. The two combined for 11 rebounds, 3 more than Rudolph brought down.

Treon Leslie kept the Warriors in it in the third quarter. Leslie scored 9 points in the third to help keep the Warriors in it. Solomon then followed that up with 8 in the fourth to seal the deal for the Warriors.

Overall, Wayne was much more athletic than Elder. Elder struggled defensively to slow Wayne down. They allowed Wayne to run up and down the floor throughout the game. Wayne was able to take a lot of shots during the game, which helped them greatly.

Wayne now advances to play Cincinnati Withrow. The game is this Wednesday, March 5, at 8:00. The game is at Xavier University's Cintas Center.

Individual Statistics: Player, FG made/attempted, Total Points. Elder- Anthony Meyer 3-8 7; Andrew Wessels 2-6 7; Kyle Rudolph 4-6 11; Alex Welch 3-6 6; Craig Wessels 2-2 4; Selby Chidemo 1-2 3; Zach Autenreib 1-3 4; Steve Hengehold 1-1 2. Wayne- Troy Gilmer 1-7 3; Treon Leslie 4-10 12; Tyler Milligan 0-2 3; DJ Lenoir 2-6 4; Lamar Mallory 2-5 5; Jesse Solomon 3-4 8; Charles Winkfield 2-3 4; Markus Crider 1-1 3; Travis Trice Jr. 1-2 5.

Team Statistics: Field Goals, Three-Pointers, Free-Throws, Rebounds, Turnovers. Elder- 17-34 (50%), 2-6 (33%), 8-17 (47%), 19, 25. Wayne- 17-41 (42%), 4-11 (36%), 9-16 (56%), 17, 25.