Neilson Ratings – Gorillas Win over Bluebirds
Goessel Varsity Guys Basketball - v. Solomon January 8, 2019
Solomon’s Gorillas have had a rough start in their basketball season after a glorious football run. Star quarterback / all-around basketball stud 6’3” Senior Braden Neilson has been out a good portion of the Solomon season to date and the team has started 0-6. Neilson was back on the court tonight in Goessel, doing nearly everything except make the popcorn and cheerleading. Visitors’ stats are unavailable but it is assumed he pulled double digit boards in addition to scoring 31 on the night. Goessel put up valiant efforts on defense but frequently had to double or triple #1. At 19-24, at the half Goessel went down 22-29 but came back to nearly tie 36-37 before it slipped away. In the closing minutes, Solomon went to the line for 16 attempts, converting 10 to finish off the Bluebirds 43-52.
Jobe Fowles led off with a top of the key triple; Goessel was able to tie three times tonight but was never in the lead. Solomon led by as much as 10. Drew Lindeman was fouled on a nice turn in the paint and hit the back end of 2; two more times down the floor Zogleman bounced no-look back door to Jerah Schmidt for a pretty two 3-4. Tonight’s officiating crew did not allow a lot of contact and there would be many opportunities for expression of that attitude. Jake Hagewood was credited with a great finish on the break to knot at 6 and Zogleman juiced up the crowd by taking a charge, followed by a sumptuous Jerah steal to close the quarter 8-9.
The Gorillas were relentless from the line, going 8 for 9 to start. Neilson’s powerful moves in the paint required more defensive prowess than an NBA defender covering a Euro-stepper. Miguel Ballesta also took one for the team and several Gorillas lingered in foul purgatory. Ballesta got two with a nifty drive 10-11, then Goessel got two from Skyler Wuest on a great 3:1 break. At 2:36, Wuest set and delivered one from east of the K-State GHS reunion guest bench to tie 17-17. It was back and forth and in the heated action, Dylan Lindeman buried one from 10 feet to tie again at 19. As Neilson was making a foray to the hoop, it appeared the official called a floor foul but gave him the bucket +1 with 48 ticks left; the three point play was disheartening and left it at 19-24 at the half.
Out of the break, the home fans took heart as Drew hit his own three point play with another perfect fake and roll inside. 22-24. Goessel missed its 2nd wide open left side layup of the night and the Gorillas went on a 5-0 mini-run. Timeout Guhr 5:58. Another nice back door play c/o Jerah brought it back to 24-29 and Dylan found the range from way downtown at 5:17 to close to 27-31. At 3:20 Jobe Fowles….. well…. fowled out. Neilson likely could have put up a pretty good contest by himself and quickly took it to 27-37 singlehandedly. Off of intense Bluebird pressure Goessel got fouled twice and Dylan and Drew hit 3 for 4 from the line to close the 13-13 quarter 32-37.
In one of the most amazing sequences of the game, Goessel’s Dylan Lindeman went to the line again after another tough inside push. His first effort swished but the 2nd bounced right; whistle! Solomon in too soon. 3rd effort good! On the third effort Hynes was called for a push and Wuest went to the line and slammed home both charities to leave it at 36-37, a four point effort with no time off the clock. Now in the 1-1 with 7:21 left, Neilson missed once, then Hynes grabbed a pass way outside and with some sort of spontaneous twitch let loose a prayer and buried it 36-40. It was back and forth to the charity stripe from this point to the finish. Lindeman got two but the Bluebirds sent the Gorillas to the stripe for 17 attempts in the final quarter and the visitors obliged, hitting 10. With 4:06 left in the quarter, Hagewood got the first FG of the quarter on a drive to leave it at 40-48. At 3:00 in the double bonus Hagewood got one of two, Fiske fouled out with 2:51 left, and Goessel’s Lindeman corralled a steal and coasted in for another FG with 43 seconds left 43-51, but all hope was gone as the Gorillas handled the ball capably in foul mode. Dylan fouled out at :36.
This one finished at 43-52.
Goessel’s Dylan Lindeman finished with 14, scoring in every quarter, Skyler Wuest put up a solid 9, and Jerah Schmidt contributed 6. Drew Lindeman and Jake Hagewood notched 5, Miguel Ballesta and Jake Hiebert scored 2 apiece. Also playing tonight for Goessel was Zach Zogleman.
