Gleason's Solano is solo senior leading young team

After three seniors quit and one transferred, the Gleason boys basketball team was left laden by young players heading into the 2016-17 season.

One player did return for his senior season this year, and that was Lucio Solano.

The burden was going to fall on him to be the go-to ball handler, go-to scorer and go-to leader.

Solano has accepted that role and flourished in it.

“I just said that if they decide not to play, we are going to play with what we got,” Solano said. “I will help my team out and make them better.”

Entering the season, there were 14 players on Gleason’s roster and 10 of them were freshmen or eighth graders.

So there has been a tough period of trying to teach those young players how to play on this high school level.

“Our chemistry has improved,” Solano said. “I haven’t played with them much because they are freshmen that just got up this year, so this is my first year playing with them.”

And with young players that are still developing into their roles, many teams focus their defense on Solano and trying to slow him down.

“The hardest thing has been getting pressured a lot,” he said. “I have to be the top player, but I am also trying to help my teammates to get better.”

Solano said that he sees those young player get better in every aspect of the game, and that comes from a better work ethic.

“I see them wanting to practice more and practice harder,” Solano said. “They will ask me to help them.”

The hard work has paid off as Gleason recently picked up their first win of the season over Big Sandy. Solano scored 42 points in the game.

“That win boosted our confidence because it showed that we can win with young players,” he said. “In the first half, I wasn’t doing so hot. My teammates were helping me out, encouraging me. My shots started falling in the second half.”

Solano is now one of the top scorers in West Tennessee, averaging over 24 points per game. That is not something that he expected or wanted, but he feels like he has worked to try to improve.

“I believe that I have been working hard since I started basketball when I was five,” Solano said. “I have always been taught to work hard by my dad and brother. They have helped me improve.”

He also scored the 1,000th point of his career at Greenfield earlier this season.

So with less than one month left in the season, Solano feels like this team will continue to improve.

“I feel like we can get a win or two before the end of the season,” he said.

Michael Odom, 425-9754