Earlier in the season, Twinsburg suffered a heartbreaking, double-overtime defeat at the hands of the Solon Comets. Friday night's matchup between Twinsburg and Solon was all about correcting previous mistakes.
"We wanted to make it hard for them to trap us," Twinsburg head coach Bob Pasci. "They trapped us at our place and it really hurt us."
Twinsburg stormed out of the gate after senior guard Aaron Macer slammed home a fast break dunk within the first two minutes of the game. Macer finished the quarter with seven points. Twinsburg played inspired basketball and ended the quarter with a 23-13 lead.
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"We took care of the ball, we spread out more, and we got good shots," said Pasci.
Solon equaled Twinsburg's intensity level in the second quarter, and the two teams entered halftime with Twinsburg leading, 38-27.
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The two teams played evenly throughout the second half, but the Comets couldn't overcome their original 10-point deficit. Solon cut Twinsburg's lead to as few as eight points early in the fourth quarter, thanks to Alex Giterman's five quick points to start the final period. Twinsburg quickly rebounded, however, and broke Solon's press for easy fast-break baskets. AJ Edwards scored eight of his 22 points in the fourth, and was the Tigers' main offense down the stretch. Giterman scored eight points in the fourth, but his effort wasn't enough, as the Comets fell to the Tigers, 70-58.
Twinsburg led Solon for the entire game, and it was tough for the Comets to play from behind.
"Its tough when you play from behind the entire night," said Solon head coach Sean Fisher. "It takes a lot of energy."
Solon emptied much of its bench throughout the game, a point that Fisher commented on after the game.
"We were searching for somebody to give us some energy and some defensive pressure."
Twinsburg will close out their regular season against Walsh Jesuit on Tuesday at Twinsburg High School, and Solon will host Stow-Munroe Falls on Tuesday as well.
1st 2nd 3rd 4th Final Twinsburg 23 15 17 15 70 Solon 13 14 17 14 58
Scoring Breakdown:
Twinsburg:
#5 Aaron Macer: 13 pts
#11 Michael Timm: 13 pts
#21 Jalen Washington: 8 pts
#23 Malik Billingsly: 9 pts
#33 AJ Edwards: 22 pts
#45 Frank Shaffer: 2 pts
Solon:
#3 Christian Jackson: 6 pts
#10 Nate Brillhart: 4 pts
#12 Emmitt Mosely: 3 pts
#21 Alex Giterman: 11 pts
#23 Brandon Marshall: 5 pts
#24 DeAndre Payton: 6 pts
#32 Chris Cromity: 4 pts
#34 Liam O'Brien: 15 pts
#40 AJ Johnson: 2 pts
#42 Patrick Kramer: 2 pts