By TYLER HENRY
Salina Post contributor
The Solomon Gorillas boys basketball team will take on Little River in the sub-state championship game today at 5pm.
Little River enters this contest at 19-1 overall after having a bye in round one and defeating Goessel 58-38 last night.
Solomon comes in at 17-5 with a 70-59 double-overtime win over Rural-Vista in round one and a 61-57 win over Sylvan-Lucas last night.
“I think the best thing I saw last night was the defensive pressure that we put on Sylvan-Lucas,” Solomon head coach Andrew Johnson said. “We forced them into some tough situations which was good for us.”
Now to punch their ticket to state, the Gorillas will have to face a Little River team that is ranked as the top team in the class, and who beat them earlier this year 59-34.
“I think our whole season we’ve known that Little River is a juggernaut that everyone was going to have to go through,” Johnson said. “We played them earlier this season and did a lot of junk stuff because it’s hard to run normal sets against an athletic bunch like that.”
Little River is led by Jayden Garrison who averages a staggering 24 points per game, and is backed up by Trey Rolfs and Braxton Lafferty who add another 22 on average.
While those three do a majority of the damage, this Little River team is dangerous in the rest of the lineup as well.
“We can’t sag off some of the kids that we didn’t think were shooters last time,” he said. “I think we’re going to play everybody straight up as if they can all score as good as Garrison.”
Solomon enters this contest as heavy underdogs, but isn’t letting that phase them as the young team approaches tip off on Saturday.
“I’m just going to tell them to go out there, play their game and have fun,” Johnson said. “I really think if we limit our turnovers we have a chance. We’re a phenomenal young basketball team that’s enjoying the moment.”
Tip off between Solomon and Little River is scheduled for 5pm at Canton-Galva High School with the winner advancing to the 1A DI state tournament next week.
Stay tuned to the Salina Post for continuing coverage of the Solomon Gorillas throughout the sub-state tournament.