Solanco Starts Anew, Become Chiseled As Golden Mules Prevail Over Oxford In First Game Of New Era
Written by: Andy Herr on December 3, 2022
There’s something to be said about new beginnings. Whether it be in life or even in the world of high school basketball, sometimes change can be for the better. And what a better place to start than opening night of the gauntlet that is the regular season itself if we’re talking hoops.
It’s not exactly a well-kept secret around these parts, but the wins for the Solanco Golden Mules boys’ basketball program have been in fairly short supply over the last handful of years. And no, before your mind goes wandering off the tracks, it most certainly wasn’t due to a lack of effort put forth by both the players and the respective coaching staffs alike. But as mentioned, sometimes a metaphorical blood transfusion of sorts can do wonders for a program. Yes, even with someone who has been around the club and seen it’s innermost workings for years on end now.
If nothing else, I suppose it’s fair to say that Anthony Hall’s job is safe? (He typed lightheartedly of course). After all, in serving in his role as athletic director at the public school located in the lower end of Lancaster County, Hall has obviously witnessed the program with a keen eye while managing his other mandatory duties of running a tight ship while the games themselves have been taking place out on the floor. That said, being a coach in his own right back in the day collegiate stops along the way at places like SUNY Brockport, Juniata College, and Slippery Rock University to name just a few, Hall’s resume alone instantly made the Lancaster-Lebanon League a better product overnight as his tenure at locales such as those could realistically be put up against just about everyone else’s inside the conference who also happens to sit in the chair at the end of the bench.
Even still, taking over at Solanco, albeit with an intimate knowledge of the lay of the land, can be a whole different animal in and of itself. So, suffice to say, getting a new era of the program kick-started with a win would certainly be a good place to start. And while it wasn’t the easiest of tasks, the Golden Mules responded marvelously to the challenge at hand over the course of the first 32 minutes of a new regime change against the Oxford Hornets on Friday night.
In the early going, both Solanco’s Tyler Burger and Oxford’s Jaden Morales took their turns going back and forth with one another it seemed. For Burger, fresh off a one-year hiatus on the basketball floor, the time away from the game competitively must’ve done wonders as the Mules’ crafty senior guard looked himself again given that he proceeded to tally Solanco’s first four points of the contest, but not before Oxford’s imposing senior center was able to do even better than that, scoring the Hornets’ first seven of the game, all of which propelled Oxford out to the 7-4 advantage with three minutes left on the first quarter clock.
However, with much of the game’s scoring taking place in and around the cup up until that point, Solanco’s 6’4 sophomore guard, Noah Bailey, was able to take things outside and fire in back-to-back step-in treys that knotted the affair up at an 11-11 count with 1:40 left to play in the first. And once the final minute and change did eventually bleed off the first quarter clock, Solanco was able to find themselves up by the slimmest of margins, 14-13, with the second stanza set to commence.
If nothing else, it was evident that both two squads were extremely even and well-matched. Case in point, while Burger and 6’2 junior forward, Gavin Cox, were able to score buckets inside to put the Mules up by a 20-18 count near the midway point of the quarter, Oxford’s Colin Overbeck was able to toe the charity stripe and knock in a pair of freebies to bring it back to a 22-22 contest with a shade over two minutes still left to go and Octorara’s tiny gym rocking back and forth with all the atmosphere of a do-or-die playoff game. And much in the same vein as the quarter which had just preceded it, Solanco would eventually be able to scratch and claw their way back in front once the period expired as the Mules carried the 24-21 lead with them into the halftime locker room.
In the third quarter, if the energy inside the building wasn’t already palpable, it was about to get raised to an even higher notch if that was even possible.
To begin the proceedings, Oxford 6’2 senior guard, Matt Boyle, was able to pump in a pair of trifectas which not only helped him finish as the Hornets’ leading scorer with 14 points on the evening, but it also gave his squad the 27-25 lead.
However, that was more than enough that Solanco’s Jadon Yoder cared to witness as the Mules’ senior guard retaliated right back with a 3-ball in the corner of his own on Solanco’s ensuing trip down the floor to wrestle the advantage away from their adversaries in the quickest of fashions.
Speaking of big-time plays, look no further than another senior in Mules’ rotation, Noah Baber, as the Solanco guard was able to find his moment to shine as the third frame rolled along, scoring a pair of key bunnies inside which gave the see-saw lead tilt back in Solanco’s favor, 32-31, with three minutes still to go in the third.
Ironic of course given that buckets in the paint against Oxford appeared hard to come by considering the remarkably tall Hornets’ squad was able to stifle three successive Golden Mules’ attempts inside with clean rejections. But not if Tyler Burger again had anything to say about it as the Hornets’ kryptonite was able to tally a floater in the lane late in the frame, making it a 34-34 contest, which is exactly where the score remained over the final 1:20.
Suffice to say, but the nip-and-tuck battle needed either one of the two squads to step up and take command with the game so clearly still hanging in the balance. Well, maybe it was just a flair for the dramatics, but Solanco would prove themselves to be the ones who decisively took things into their own hands inside the final quarter.
In fact, their eventual overtaking of the game’s momentum came complete with elements of what had gotten them to find themselves this position in the first place. For proof of that, look to Jadon Yoder’s magnificent pump-fake bucket near the tin which made it a 38-34 Golden Mules’ advantage with 5:47 left to play. From there, even with Oxford having called a timeout to try and regroup, Noah Bailey had other ideas as yet another potent triple cashed in by the 6’4 sophomore put the Mules up by a touchdown, 41-34, with time becoming of the upmost essence for the Hornets.
And while they were eventually able to whittle it down to a four-point difference at 43-39 near the three-minute mark following a 3-ball splashed in courtesy of Jaden Morales, the dagger in Solanco’s favor seemed to come via a trademark Noah Baber floater in the lane which made it a 47-40 contest with 1:22 still left to play.
From there, with the well of opportunity and most importantly time itself starting to run dry on the Hornets, the final salt in their open wound came courtesy of charity stripe as a 4-4 stretch in the closing moments thanks to the collective efforts of Austin Wenger and Tyler Burger respectively helped proved to be the final icing on a delicious 53-40 cake to signify the conclusion of a successful first day of a new era, a 13-point Solanco victory over their southern-end neighbors from Oxford.
Afterwards, even for a guy who has coached as Anthony Hall has, there were things even he too seemed to forget leading up until the 6pm tip time. “What didn’t feel normal is that I hadn’t eaten since 11:30 this morning because we have a wrestling tournament going on back home (at Solanco), so I was on AD duty doing all of that. The first time I yelled at one of my guys tonight, I yelled so loud that I almost fainted. I honestly felt dizzy,” he quipped.
“We got a lot out of tonight that we learned for going forward,” Hall then continued. “For me, the steppingstone was not cracking. We’re holding court, then suddenly things go against us, but we saw that window of opportunity and pushed through. My guys, I challenged them a couple times and they stepped up. So yes, it was almost a perfect game in terms of atmosphere and what all we had to go through.”
Again though, yes, while it may be a fairly innocuous and unassuming victory on just the first night of the year, make no mistake about it. This one was critical. After all, their new head man might know that better than anyone else.
“Right now, I think every win for Solanco is important,” Hall stated. “I just told (his team) inside, ‘Every win is enjoyable. I want you guys to enjoy this til midnight tonight because they (wins) come very rarely.’ But this one is enjoyable because this was our first win together that wasn’t a summer league and this one counts. Every single win we get is going to be special.”
NEXT UP: Fresh off the spoils of their opening triumph, it is certainly no time for the Mules to rest on their laurels as they take to the court again on Saturday night against arguably one of the best teams in the entire L-L League itself this season, Octorara, on the Braves’ home floor in the championship tilt of the Octorara Tip-Off Tournament after the hosts prevailed in a similar type fashion over Church Farm in the other opening round affair. Yet no matter how that game against Octorara eventually shakes out, at least on this night, it’s tangible evidence that Solanco may very well be on the path back up.
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