Richard Solomon leads L.A. Price to title

A year after an agonizing defeat in the state Division IV championship game in Sacramento, Richard Solomon showed up Friday determined to change the ending, and what a performance he delivered.

The 6-foot-9 senior center made nine of 11 shots and scored 22 points to help Los Angeles Price defeat Albany St. Mary’s, 69-51, in the Division IV boys’ basketball title game at Rabobank Arena.

Last season, Solomon played for Torrance Bishop Montgomery, which lost on a buzzer beater, 65-64, to Richmond Salesian.

“Richard this week was probably the most focused player we had, and he made the statement, ‘Coach, I’m not coming back a loser,’ and I could see it in his eyes and I could see it in his energy,” Coach Michael Lynch said.

Said Solomon: “A lot of times you have to learn how to accept failure to succeed. Last year, I had to learn how to deal with failure. We ended up succeeding as a team, not just me.”

In winning its sixth state championship, Price (33-3) put together a 13-0 run between the first and second quarters to assume a 19-11 advantage and never looked back.

If it wasn’t Solomon dunking and being aggressive around the basket, it was 6-6 Allen Crabbe dunking, making threes, making free throws, pulling down rebounds and doing just about everything well, which is the reason he was named the Gatorade state player of the year. Crabbe finished with 25 points and 10 rebounds. His legacy at Price will be hard to duplicate.

“His play, his growth and his development is a tribute to hard work,” Lynch said. “He’s a model for the guys coming after him.”

The fact that Solomon and Crabbe are both headed to California is good news for Coach Mike Montgomery, and Solomon wants to enjoy similar success in Berkeley and perhaps beyond with Crabbe.

This was a season in which Price proved it was one of the top teams for any division in California, thanks to a tough schedule that included games against Corona Centennial, Newark Memorial, Los Angeles Crenshaw, Gardena Serra and Pasadena.

“It feels great,” Crabbe said. “Our coach prepared us well.”

eric.sondheimer@latimes.com