The Solon Comets, who have an 11-11 record, are set to face the Riverside Beavers, who have an 14-8 record. The Solon boys basketball team looks to win their first district playoff game at Riverside March 3 at 7 p.m..
Coach Robert Stircula said he is ready for the players to make it far.
“Hopefully, we just bring our energy up, and we’re excited that it’s a new season, and we get a chance to get to Columbus,” Stircula said.
Role players like senior Jayshawn Mack who is averaging 8.6 points per game and senior Omari Braxton who is averaging 9.1 points per game, want everyone to dial in for playoffs and worry about one game at a time.
“I feel like we can all step up and bring the whole team together,” Mack said. “I’m really looking forward to making it far in the playoffs.”
Comets’ Jonathan Kambani is leading the team with 19.1 points per game and rebounds with 7.6 rebounds per game. Senior Kambani wants to learn from the team’s mistake for playoffs.
“Some lows were [the game against] Garrett Morgan on Feb. 14,” Kambani said. “We just didn’t play the way we wanted to. [A] terrible game also [was] Nordonia– the second time we played them we just didn’t play the way we wanted to.”
Mack said the reason in most of the games they lost was that their pace was too slow.
“We were not getting out in fast breaks enough, but the reason we won some of the tough games was we were able to run faster in transition,” Mack said.
Stircula wants his team to all step up in this year’s playoffs.
“I mean it’s a whole different season,” Stircula said. “Hopefully, they focus on right now because it is a win or go home situation.”
Kambani said he wants to end the season with a great win.
“I’m looking to win everything,” Kambani said. “I’m not looking to lose this playoff. I want to play everybody that comes our way.”
