By TYLER HENRY
Lead Sportswriter - Salina Post
The Solomon Gorillas used a strong second half to pull away from Sedgwick on Friday night, eliminating the Cardinals 49-26, and punching their ticket to the second round of sub-state.
Both offenses took the better part of the first half to get going, with each side scoring just seven points in the first quarter.
In the second, the Gorillas picked up the intensity on the inside, and Sedgwick did the same on the outside, canning three three pointers to keep things close in a 21-19 game at half.
Out of the locker room, Solomon applied the clamps on defense, allowing just three made Sedgwick field goals the rest of the way and pulling away behind an 18-point fourth quarter for a comfortable win on their home floor.
Eight different Gorillas scored at least one bucket in this game, led by Calvin Mattison, who added nearly ten blocks to his 11 points.
Mattison was aided by Jack Westhead, who canned three huge triples, Cameron Herring, who scored nine points and looked strong at the line, and Koehn Duryea, who finished with eight points.
In the loss, Holden Ferralez led the charge for Sedgwick with nine points.
The Sedgwick season comes to a close at 7-17 while Solomon improves to 15-8 and advances to the second round where they’ll travel to take on Wichita Classical on Wednesday.
You can watch this game on-demand any time below.