Lauderdale, Comets soar in win; Eagles fall to Tygers
Mike Peticca
Plain Dealer Reporter
Toledo- Solon's happy Comets must have laid 10 hearty chest bumps on Dallas Lauderdale just after the final buzzer sounded.
They knew that, as always, their big man had come to play.
"Dallas makes up for a lot of mistakes," Solon forward Billy Grant said after Lauderdale's dominating performance led the Comets to a 54-50 victory over Toledo Scott in a regional semifinal game on Thursday night. "The team does a lot of good things, too, but if you get the ball to Dallas, it's a guarantee. And, there's his rebounding and defense."
Solon (25-0), The Plain Dealer poll champion, will play Mansfield Senior (23-1) for the Division I regional championship on Saturday night. Mansfield Senior defeated St. Edward, 76-55, in the second game of Thursday night's doubleheader at the University of Toledo's Savage Hall.
Lauderdale, a 6-9 center and one of the nation's premier sophomores, scored 24 points on 10 of 11 shooting in front of a crowd of 3,288. He grabbed 11 rebounds, blocked seven shots and altered numerous others. Lauderdale and his teammates made all the big plays with the game on the line, outscoring the Bulldogs, 9-0, in the final 2:51.
Grant, who scored 11 points, began the Comets' comeback with two free throws. Guard Pat Hewitt followed with a steal and layup, cutting the Toledo Scott lead to 50-49.
Hewitt then grabbed the rebound of a missed Bulldogs shot and fed the ball to guard Jordan Krantz near midcourt. Krantz, off the dribble, made a perfect alley-oop pass from the top of the key to Lauderdale, who was sprinting along the left baseline. Lauderdale fielded the basketball above the rim and threw down a two-handed dunk for a 51-50 Solon lead with 1:05 to go.
Lauderdale then blocked a shot, leading to a Grant layup with 29 seconds left. Scott (19-5) missed what would have been a game-tying, 3-point shot. Lauderdale controlled the rebound, was fouled and closed the scoring with a free throw.
"We know how to pull out games at the end," Lauderdale said. "It's not just one individual. We all make defensive stops. We all score points."
Solon won despite committing 27 turnovers and shooting 2-of-13 from 3-point range and 12-of-21 at the foul line.
"Sometimes as coaches we just shake our heads and wonder," Solon coach Todd Van Reeth said of his team's clutch play. "It says a lot about their character."
Mansfield Senior 76, St. Edward 55
The Tygers used a 13-0 run to build a 30-14 lead late in the second quarter in front of a second-game crowd of 2,426.
Jumping Jon Avery (29 points), a 6-5 center, and jump-shooting guard Rashad Reed (22 points) led Mansfield Senior. The Tygers bothered the Eagles (16-7) with a zone press and an aggressive, man-to-man halfcourt defense. Forward Kyle Hubbard and center Delvon Roe scored 10 and nine points, respectively, for St. Edward.
"I don't think we met our expectations, but I don't think a lot of people expected us to get this far with a young team," St. Edward coach Eric Flannery said. "We ran into a very good team, a team that's now won 23 straight games."
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