Greyhounds Fall to Soldan in Sectional, End Season at 22-7 with Conference, District Championships

The Clayton Greyhounds basketball team’s season ended Wednesday with a 77-60 loss to the Soldan Tigers in the Class 4 Boys Basketball Sectional championship game at Parkway West High School.

The Tigers established a significant lead early, as a Paul McRoberts basket at the 2:06 mark in the first quarter gave Soldan (21-6) a 19-10 lead. The Tigers held a 23-13 advantage at the end of the first quarter. The Greyhounds put up a fight in the second quarter and Soldan held just a four point lead (35-31) at halftime. Clayton made the most of its perimeter shooting game in the second quarter, as Clayton Buchannan had a trey and Tyler Walker nailed two.

“We knew what they were going to bring,” Clayton coach Ryan Luhning said. “I don’t think we passed the ball well tonight and I think they had a lot to do with that. We were prepared for it. We practiced hard for this, but when you get on the court in a game like that and the guys you play against are a lot quicker than who you practice against, it makes a difference.  We made some runs at them, but we were never really consistent with what we were trying to do. That was the difference tonight.”

Luhning said Soldan “was quick at every position.”

“They run great stuff defensively which puts them in a position to make plays,” he said. “I thought our guys at times we’re aggressive and able to get around it and make a great pass and at other times we kind of backed up and made a long and lazy pass and they’re just too good to make those types of passes against.”

Soldan continued to control the lead in the second half. The Tigers led 50-43 at the end of the third quarter.

The Greyhounds had a trio of players in double figures, as Christian Thomas led the way with 20 points, Ahmad Smith had 15 and Buchannan finished with 14.

Five Tigers finished in double figures: Patrice Sanders had 19, McRoberts had 16, Raschad Simmons finished with 13 and Randy Holmes and Devin Booker each had 12.

“We wanted to maintain and focus on Christian (Thomas) because he’s their start,” Soldan coach Justin Tatum said. “He scored their first seven points. We knew that their shooters could give us some problems. We had to make sure we recognized them, which was a struggle in the beginning of the game, but once we found out where they were at, that helped us out a little bit.”

Tatum said he could count on four or five players scoring in double figures every night.

Clayton finishes the season with a 22-7 mark. The Greyhounds won both the Suburban East Conference and won the Class 4 District 6 district championship.  

“We’re very excited about where the program is and these seniors have a lot to be proud of,” Luhning said. “Ahmad (Smith), Jared (Allen), Christian (Thomas), Javon (Allen), Christopher (Thomas), Kevin (Brockmann) really put the program on the map. We won 17 games two years ago, 18 last year and 22 this year. We think we’re heading in the right direction.”  

Soldan will play Mexico in the quarterfinal round at Lindenwood University at Saturday at 1 p.m.