Behind 19 points from Haze Puttlitz – his conference season high – and 18 from Christian Dominguez, the Solebury Spartans romped over the Community Academy of Philadelphia (CAP) 74-53 in Friday’s PJAA Blue Division tilt.
“Tonight, the goal was to repeat what we did before when we played this team and give the seniors a chance to prove themselves,” said senior Anthony Cook, who scored five.
Head coach Greg Lewis started his five seniors on Senior Night. CAP owned a 7-2 lead when Solebury put in their regulars. The Spartans kept CAP from getting offensive rebounds as they exploded on a 32-11 run. Puttlitz’s putback to make it 34-18 was the high water mark for much of the game.
Five third quarter CAP triples – including four from Christian Polanco – whittled Solebury’s lead to 48-41. Solebury answered with an Ari Johnson bucket, two Joell Idrovo free throws, a Dominguez three and Puttlitz layup to go back up 57-41. Idrovo, possibly the game’s defensive MVP, added 14.
“We settled down, took our time and communicated better,” Puttlitz explained. “When we go into a downward spiral, we calm down, make better passes and talk on the floor.”
Solebury had reason to be bullish against the Bruins. Tyler Simpson (23 points) and Idrovo (15) equaled CAP’s entire team output when the Spartans thumped CAP in 68-38 on the 13th in Philadelphia.
Actually, Solebury (8-12,7-4 PJAA Blue) has reason to be bullish, period. It took Lewis eight games to get his first win after Solebury completed a tough opening gauntlet. But the Spartans recently assembled a six-game win streak.
“We had a rocky start, not really knowing each other. But over the course of the last few months putting in work, we’ve clicked,” Puttlitz pointed out.
Solebury surrendered 88 points per game in its first seven contests but has yielded just 54.4 PPG since.
“It took time for us to build chemistry that we know we can have if we put together the right pieces,” Cook echoed. “I think we’re really starting to turn things around and we’re all headed in the right direction.”
Lewis did not have an easy job – taking over for Spartan legendary coach Cleve Christie, who manned the Solebury sidelines for nearly 40 years.
“The fabric is from Cleve,” Lewis credited. “You can’t mention Solebury basketball without the name ‘Cleve Christie.’ We have respected his journey and everything he has done here. We miss him being a part of it. But his influence is still here.”
Lewis, who doubles as Solebury’s dean of students, is trying to honor the past while building the future. “Having been a player here, and now being entrenched in the school, it’s all about the forward progress of the program,” he explained. “We’re trying to take it to another level. We have 31 games on the schedule and we opened playing several national teams. We wanted to give them a shock early on but set the barometer very high so that the guys can see the level of basketball that we want to play throughout the season.”
Christie didn’t leave his protégé – Lewis starred at Solebury and was a longtime Christie assistant – an empty cupboard from last year’s Penn Jersey champions team.
“We have this slogan where the question is: ‘Are You?’ And the response,” Lewis explained, is ‘I am.’ The question is ‘Are you your brother’s keeper?’ We’ve bought into that mindset of having each other’s back, making the extra pass, diving on the floor for loose balls, taking the charges and doing the gritty work that brings a team together. That’s where we’ve grown in our journey.
“We’re in a good group. We’ll take our bumps and bruises,” Lewis predicted, “but we’ll get back going.”
The Spartans host Life Center Academy, currently unbeaten in PJAA play, on Thursday.
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