Solon edges Marion to clinch 22nd consecutive winning season

MARION – About to hop on the bus, Brad Randall instead turned around and walked back into the gym. He wanted to make sure he pointed out the big-picture significance of his team's 47-40 victory Tuesday night over Marion.It clinched the Spartans' 22nd consecutive winning season. That's impressive.“I don't think any athletic program at Solon can boast that,” Randall said. “We're proud of that.”Randall is in his 21st and final season as the school's head coach, which he announced last month. He missed six games in January, the subject of a school district investigation into his behavior.If you watched Tuesday night, he's still the fiery, vociferous guy you will always remember him as being. Though his players say he's not quite as fiery and vociferous as he was before his forced leave of absence.“He's not exactly the same as he was before,” said Nathan Hawkins, who made two clutch free throws with 13.7 seconds left to build a five-point lead that finally put pesky Marion away. “He's toned it back a little bit.”Solon (12-5) built an 11-point lead that Marion (8-12) kept slicing away at in the fourth quarter. The Indians had the ball down, 43-40, but Craig Engle missed a deep 3-pointer from outside the circle that Hawkins rebounded.“I thought we picked up the intensity late,” said Solon's Austin Miller. “We rebounded, tried to get a body on everybody and picked up the defense. We took care of the ball a lot better toward the end of the game, too. No turnovers.”“I liked that we did some things we had to do at the end of the ballgame to win it,” Randall said. “We made some free throws, got some stops, got the rebounds we needed.”Solon won despite shooting 32 percent and not having any double-figure scorers. Marion turned it over only nine times against the Spartans' trapping 1-3-1 defense (a Randall staple) but couldn't make enough shots.“We've been up and down from a win-loss standpoint all season,” Marion Coach Mike Manderscheid said. “But the kids play hard, they play smart, they fight. It seems like we're never out of a game. Even tonight, we made a run, got back within 3 and had the ball. If we would have finished a couple games more, I think our record would be reversed right now. I really do. But this is a good group of kids, fun to coach.”Daly Quinn led the Indians with 12 points. Looking back at it, one huge shot at the end of the first quarter spelled the beginning of the end for them.Solon's Emilio Villagrana pulled up from the top of the 3-point circle at his own end and heaved a shot from two-thirds court that banked in. That cut Marion's lead to 14-13.“Couldn't tell you how far it was," Villagrana said. "When it started coming down, I kind of thought ‘That might go in.'”Here is the game boxscore:

AT MARION

SOLON (47): Ethan Ahern 3-3 3-5 9, Nick Shelman 2-9 2-3 6, Austin Miller 1-6 3-4 5, Emilio Villagrana 2-8 0-0 6, Jaden Durr 1-2 0-1 2, Jacob Black 2-6 0-0 5, Nathan Hawkins 2-6 4-4 8, Shay Croy 1-2 0-0 3, Jacob Coons 1-2 0-0 3. Totals 14-44 12-17 47.

MARION (40): Quinn Cannoy 3-6 0-0 6, Trevor Hardman 1-5 0-1 2, Derek Smith 2-3 0-0 4, Daly Quinn 4-9 1-5 12, Craig Engle 4-12 0-0 9, Jacob Manderscheid 1-4 1-2 3, Cody Alberts 0-1 0-0 0, Devin Quinn 1-3 0-0 2, Terrence Williams 1-1 0-0 2. Totals 17-44 2-8 40.

Halftime - Solon 22, Marion 18.

3-point goals - Solon 5-17 (Shelman 0-3, Miller 0-1, Villagrana 2-6, Black 1-3, Croy 1-2, Coons 1-2), Marion 4-14 (Cannoy 0-1, Da. Quinn 3-7, Engle 1-4).

Rebounds - Solon 36 (Shelman, Miller 7), Marion 19 (Cannoy 4).

Total fouls - Solon 14, Marion 17.

Fouled out - Hardman.

Turnovers - Solon 16, Marion 9.