Newton pulls away from Solon down the stretch to advance to Iowa boys state basketball tournament

OSKALOOSA — Oftentimes, the final score does not tell the story of a game.

That was especially true on Tuesday night when the Solon Spartans fell to the Newton Cardinals, 60-46 in the Class 3A-6 substate finals.

Here's what we learned from a night when the Spartans were just a couple of plays away from making it to the state tournament:

The fourth quarter proved to be Solon's undoing

Up until the final two minutes of the game, the largest lead held by either team was held was 9 points. In the second half alone, there were seven lead changes.

However, the Cardinals began to take control late in the contest, which Spartans' coach Jared Galpin said happened because the offense seemed to lose their rhythm.

"We just were not flowing as well as before," Galpin said. "We just had too many empty possessions in the fourth quarter. The ball got stuck and we just weren't moving the ball as well as we did in the third quarter."

That proved especially true going into the final two and a half minutes of the game, where the Spartans trailed by 7 points.

Solon's offense lost its footing at the wrong time, prompting the Cardinals to go on a strong 9-2 run to close out the game.

Jake Benzing's growth as a shooter has not gone unnoticed

In basketball, few things look better than when a player can knock down contested jump shots and Solon has one of the best players at it on their team.

Junior guard Jake Benzing made things look easy against Newton, scoring 18 points against them.

In fact, he accounted for the bulk of the team's first-half points, scoring 13 of their 21.

Benzing said that it all started with the work he put in over the summer. This season he more than doubled his point total from a year ago.

"We all worked really hard in the summer and grinded it out every day at practice," Benzing said. "We wanted to make each other and when you do that, everyone is bound to get better."

With another summer to hone his craft, Benzing has a shot to be an even more lethal shooter in his senior year.

Where do the Spartans go from here?

With this loss, Solon finishes the season with an 18-6 record, posting their second-highest win total in the past decade.

They managed to accomplish that, despite having to integrate a lot of young players onto the varsity roster.

"We had a lot of juniors who had to get some varsity experience," Galpin said. "It took us about a month to do that and by January, we started to play the way that I expected us to. Once we got used to the speed of the game, we really started to hit our stride."

Though the sting of this game is bound to last for some time, there is indeed light at the end of the tunnel.

All but two of the players on the roster will be back next season, including starters like Benzing, Gehrig Turner and Vince Stiegelmeyer.

They will lose seniors Oaken Foster and Sean Stahle, a pair of respected leaders.

Despite their departures, Benzing remains optimistic about the returning squad and said that he has high hopes for what they will be able to accomplish.

"Next year, we will be back in this same position," Benzing said. "The goal is to win and we are excited for the chance to come back here next year and pull it out."

This article originally appeared on Iowa City Press-Citizen: Newton's late-game push helps them edge out Solon in the substate finals