Soldan High School won its first state championship in basketball in 31 years with a convincing 55-42 victory over Springfield Hillcrest last Saturday night at the Mizzou Arena in Columbia.
For the Tigers and head coach Justin Tatum, the state title was the culmination of three years of hard work, dedication with a little heartache thrown into the mix.
Soldan advanced to the Final Four the past two seasons, only to see St. Francis Borgia defeat them in the state semifinals. The Tigers were not going to be denied this year as they defeated Hillcrest and Liberty North in one-sided affairs to take home the Class 4 state title.
For Soldan’s nine-man senior class of Paul McRoberts, Partice Sanders, Randy Holmes, Kawan Griffin, Rashad Simmons, Devin Booker, Elva Shelton, Aaron Diamini and Jibreel Muhammad, this is the way their careers were supposed to end. On top.
Not only were they teammates, but they were a band of brothers. Many of them have played together since grade school.
The Tigers prepared for their title run by playing a national schedule against some of the best competition in the nation. They lost five games, but only one of those losses came locally and that was against a 25-win McCluer team on the road.
Once the postseason came around, the Tigers are an onrushing train that could not be stopped. They won all six of their state playoff games by an average margin of 24 points. Only once did they give up more than 50 points in the postseason and that was in an 81-51 victory over Sumner in a district semifinal game.
The Tigers were not always pretty, but that’s the way they liked it.
They resembled the Baltimore Ravens with their dominance on the defensive end of the floor. They weren’t always an offensive juggernaut, but the defense was relentless with the grinding pressure that just shut opposing teams down.
This was a very much a hard-hat and lunch pail group that punched the clock for 32 minutes every night. At the end of the game, opposing teams knew they were in a battle, win or lose. Mostly, lose. The Tigers prided themselves on getting into your personal space and making the game as uncomfortable as it can possibly be for an opposing team.
On offense, the 6’4″ McRoberts was a dynamic performer with his 3-point shooting and high-flying dunks. The 6’4″ Holmes was a consistent offensive performer with his old-school game, which including a deadly 15-foot jumper. Sanders handled the ball, hit 3-pointers and helped fuel the Tigers pressure defense.
Putting it all together was Tatum, who was a former standout player himself at CBC on the 1997 Class 4A state champions. He also pushed the right buttons with his combination of game strategy and tough love.
The final result was a well-deserved state championship.
