Salem CC bounces back from a bad loss that eliminated it from playoff contention to upset one of the best teams in the region
By Al Muskewitz
Riverview Sports News
CARNEYS POINT – The numbers weren’t in Salem Community College’s favor at the start of the game – almost half as many wins as their opponent and two fewer players – but the Mighty Oaks have never really paid much attention to that sort of stuff. To them, the only numbers that really mattered were the ones on the scoreboard at the end of the game.
The Oaks rediscovered their long-range shooting stroke Saturday, used a 13-0 run late in the first half to take control of the game and held off a late charge from their playoff-bound visitors to score a 99-94 victory over Sussex County CC in their first game since being eliminated from playoff contention.
It was their sixth victory in eight games of a fabulous February and, with one game remaining in the season, guaranteed them a .500 record in the 18 games since Mike Green took over as head coach right before Christmas. The Skylanders (18-9) were by far the winningest team they have beaten this season.
“We responded,” Green said. “We just lost a game pretty bad to close out our playoff hopes and the guys responded. None of us were happy after that loss. We had nobody play well in that game, so they just wanted to get back out and everybody wanted to play well. They didn’t quit.
“That’s pretty much what it is. Pride. Your pride was on the line. Our pride was on the line as a team and we had to come respond and we did that.”
The Oaks (11-13) made only four of 21 3-pointers in Thursday’s 52-point loss at Northampton that eliminated them from the playoffs, but Naime Scott had that many in the first 13 minutes of the game. The Oaks hit seven 3s in the half and finished with 10 in the game.
Joshua Ramos hit three, Shaquez Coley-Lewis two and A.J. Jones one.
“Law of averages, man,” Green said. “You go 4-for-34, I told them we’d never do that again, and the next day we came in and shot more 3s. We ain’t going away from it. We’re going to live by it, we’re going to die by it. The guys just came back yesterday and worked at it; got a lot of them up. That’s our calling card. We’ve got kids who can shoot it and have confidence in their shots.”
“After the bad loss from the other day we just buckled down,” Scott said. “A lot of people always counted us out, but we don’t look at it like that. We look at it as we’re trying to get better. We always want to win and we just play as a team and the outcome showed tonight.”
Scott, a freshman from Philadelphia, led the Oaks with his junior college career-high 33 points and eight assists. His previous best was 26 in his JUCO debut against Delaware County CC. He had been averaging 15.6 in February.
Backcourt mate Dante Brinkley, a freshman from Delaware, came within a couple late missed free throws of giving the Oaks two 30-point scorers in the same game and finished with a JUCO career-high 29. They combined for 35 points in the second half.
Sussex’ P.J. Ross led all scorers with 39 points.
“I didn’t know that was their numbers; that’s impressive, very impressive,” Green said of his two big scorers. “It just comes from hard work, our guys finding each other in the right position, attacking until we get downhill and we want to go finish. I’m happy for them because I’m on them a lot. I was a guard myself, so I’m always on them, too. They get the most from me, so I’m happy for them.”
The game was tight early with seven ties and six lead changes in the first 15 minutes. The Skylanders cut it to 33-32 with 5:39 left in the first half, then the Oaks went on a 13-0 run over the next three minutes to take control of the game.
The Oaks scored on six of seven possessions, while holding the Skylanders went 0-for-5 shooting and had three turnovers.
“We played the way we wanted to play,” Green said. “We wanted to be aggressive on the ball, we turned them over a couple times, wanted to get steals and get our shooters shots. We got back on defense and rebounded. When we limit teams to one shot, we’re a lot better team. We did that a ton today, which got us the lead. When they got back in it, that’s when we didn’t do it.”
Salem led by 11 at halftime and 14 with 4:34 to play before the Skylanders mounted a comeback. Sussex got it to five with 1:10 to go and four after Ross hit three free throws with 11 seconds left, but between their ballhandling and free throw shooting Scott and Brinkley made sure they didn’t get closer.
The Oaks wrap up their season Monday at home against Camden County College, a game that was rescheduled for earlier this year. They’ll be looking to avenge an earlier four-point loss and go out 10-8 in Green’s first season with the program.
“We want to win,” Green said. “We lost to them already. They went up 15 on us, we had to fight to get back. It’s definitely another test for us. They’re one of the top teams in our league and we want to measure ourselves versus the best.
“It’s just another chance to show what we’re coming to do and put everybody on notice that our freshmen will become sophomores next year.”
SALEM CC 99, SUSSEX COUNTY CC 94
SUSSEX COUNTY CC (18-9) — Jesus Romero 3 3-5 9, Nate Aklilu 4 2-2 11, P.J. Ross 13 8-8 39, Hamadi Martin 0 2-2 2, Christian Archer 8 2-2 18, David Forzani 3 2-2 9, Jalil Golden 3 0-0 6. Totals 34 19-21 94.
SALEM CC (11-13) — Naime Scott 9-19 11-13 33, Dante Brinkley 11-16 7-12 29, Shaquez Coley-Lewis 6-9 0-0 14, Joshua Ramos 3-7 0-0 9, A.J. Jones 3-7 1-2 8, Tajee Jordan 2-5 2-2 6, Tivon Woolford 0-4 0-0 0. Totals 34-67 21-29 99.
| Sussex County CC | 39 | 55 — | 94 |
| Salem CC | 50 | 49 — | 99 |
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