Sunday, March 19, 2000
Sollman leads St. X to state
BY CAREY HOFFMAN
The Cincinnati Enquirer
Scott Sollmann
| ZOOM |
|
DAYTON, Ohio — After four years of starring in three different sports for St. Xavier, Steve Sollmann has no higher desire than to bring home a state championship trophy.
Saturday night, he helped bring St. X basketball within two victories of making that possible.
“The one thing that I want and the rest of the school needs is a state championship,” said Sollmann just after St. X held off Beavercreek 46-42 to earn a trip to the Division I state Final Four. “It would be really something to be on the first team to win a title.”
St. X (23-2) has never won a state title in the three major sports of football, basketball and baseball. Their victory in the Division I regional championship game Saturday at University of Dayton Arena sends the Bombers to state for only the second time in school history.
St. X will meet Hilliard Davidson in the state semifinals at 9 p.m. Friday at Ohio State's Schottenstein Center. Hilliard Davidson beat Canton McKinley 77-52 Saturday night in a regional final.
Beavercreek (24-2) loses in the regional title game for the second straight year and third time in the last six years.
A wild press helped give Beavercreek a chance to catch St. X at the end Saturday, but Sollmann made two big plays at game's end to preserve the vic tory.
Kyle Williams' layup with 48 seconds left cut St. X's lead to 42-37. A steal by Beavercreek's Zach Bertke led to a short jumper by Jeremy Renner, cutting the lead to 42-39 with 26.4 seconds left.
But then Sollmann burst past a pair of defenders up the sideline and headed for the basket. He circled away when Beavercreek recovered, but then turned and fired a pass into the lane to a wide open John Cronin, who went in for an uncontested layup.
Beavercreek refused to die, as guard Teddy Williams hit a 3-pointer from 25 feet to cut the lead to 44-42 with 3.8 seconds left. But after a timeout, Sollmann cleanly received the inbounds pass and was fouled by Jamie Holden.
“That was the guy I wanted to see going up there,” St. X forward Joel Cornette said of Sollmann. “When he went up there, I had no doubt in my mind he would make those.”
Sollmann swished the first free throw and got the second to bounce in off the front rim, effectively ending Beavercreek's chances.
“Going up there was tough after only a 2-for-6 performance (on foul shots) in the last game,” Sollmann said. “I just tried to put that out of my head.”
St. X took control by scoring the first seven points out of halftime to take a 28-15 lead and force Beavercreek to abandon its matchup zone defense.
“We had to go man-to-man and we had to press,” Beavercreek coach Buzz Seilhamer said. “Have we pressed that aggressively before? Yes. Have we met a team that played as aggressively (as St. X did)? No.”
“We knew they weren't going to give up,” St. X coach Scott Martin said. “We knew they had extra quickness, we knew they'd scramble. The key was taking care of the ball enough times down the stretch.”
Cornette led balanced St. X scoring with 10 points. Renner had 20 for Beavercreek, including their first 10 of the fourth quarter.
BEAVERCREEK (42) — K. Williams 2-5 2-2 6, Eldridge 0-1 0-0 0, Renner 8-9 4-5 20, Holden 1-3 4-6 6, T. Williams 4-11 0-0 10, Bertke 0-1 0-0 0. Totals: 15-30 10-13 42.
ST. XAVIER (46) — Cornette 4-7 1-2 10, Cronin 3-5 0-0 6, Larkin 4-5 0-0 8, Callahan 2-4 1-2 7, Kennedy 0-0 0-0 0, Larsen 3-4 1-3 7, Bast 0-0 0-0 0, Waligora 0-0 0-0 0, Sollmann 3-9 2-2 8. Totals: 19-34 5-9 46. Beavercreek 8-7-8-19-42 St. Xavier 10-11-11-14-46
3-pointers: B 2-10 (K. Williams 0-2, Holden 0-1, T. Williams 2- 6, Bertke 0-1), SX 3-7 (Cornette 1-3, Callahan 2-3, Sollmann 0-1). Rebounds: B 13 (Renner 6), SX 22 (Larkin, Larsen 5). Assists: B 12 (Holden 7), SX 9 (Sollmann 5). A—3,400. Records: B 24-2, SX 23-2.
Sports Stories
Boards key for UC vs. Tulsa
How about those scrappy little Bearcats
Tulsa steals into spotlight
Tulsa's Shelton has UC friends
Tulsa not happy with seed, either
Tulsa's aim: keep coaching talent
UC women lose in NIT despite Slaise's 38
Women's NIT Scores - schedule
Williams questionable for Notre Dame
Reese returns from injury
Sanders, Wohlers will begin DL
Portugal first to go six
Fernandez makes big impression
Reds Game Report
