Mighty Oaks women come to life in the second half to pull away from Delaware Tech; men’s team gets off to another slow start, but this time doesn’t recover
By Al Muskewitz
Riverview Sports News
CARNEYS POINT – Brian Marsh expects a certain amount of ups and down with virtually a new team. You just hope there are more ups than there are downs.
The Salem CC women’s team’s second game of the season had a little of both, but in the end there were enough ups to produce a victory over Delaware Tech.
The Mighty Oaks had all they could do to grab a five-point halftime lead were deadlocked midway through the third quarter, but they got it together over the last quarter and a half to finally shake the winless Squares, 76-52.
“I think with a young team you’re just going to see those ups and downs,” said Marsh, the Oaks’ second-year head coach. “What we’re trying to be is consistent with the energy. We have a lot of depth, so we want to use that as much as possible, wear the other team down.”
And that’s just what they did. The Oaks (2-0), who scored 99 points in their season opener two nights earlier, only led 28-23 at halftime and were tied at 36 with 5:09 left in the third quarter before their depth started making a difference.
They outscored the visitors 14-2 the rest of the quarter, a run that morphed into a larger 40-12 barrage that put the game out of reach.
“I think we took their best shot in the first half,” Marsh said. “They really came at us and we were still up five at halftime – I thought that was a good thing.
“Our team plays really hard. Sometimes they want to go, go, go so much sometimes you have to reel them in a little bit. We’re just trying to be more consistent. Instead of having a bad first half or a good second half, I always say start fast, finish strong. That’s exactly what we’re trying to do.”
They certainly finished strong. The Oaks were 21-of-46 from the floor after halftime – after hitting only 12 buckets the first half – and outrebounded the Squares 28-16. Dani Gustin had 10 of her 14 rebounds in the half.
Jakayla Jenkins was particularly active in the second half. The sophomore captain from Dallas scored all eight of her points after the break, along with collecting five of her eight rebounds and five of her seven assists.
“For me, I knew my first half wasn’t the best just judging by the score, so I knew someone had to bring the energy back up” Jenkins said. “And I knew defense is always going to bring us back up, so therefore I just started playing defense for my team. That’s how we all got steals and points on the board and I feel like my energy started a domino effect and everyone just started doing their part and that’s how we started pulling away.
“(The first half) was hard to watch from the sidelines. Forget the first one and just remember the second one.”
SALEM CC WOMEN 76, DELAWARE TECH 52
DELAWARE TECH (0-5) – Tierra Johnson 2-7 5-8 9, Jendaya McNeal 2-6 0-0 4, Amiya Mills 5-17 0-0 13, Kendyl Baker 1-2 1-2 3, Aniyah Williams 3-6 0-0 6, Samantha Grunza 0-0 0-0 0, Ciara Whittle 0-3 0-2 0, Thailys Torres 4-14 7-8 17. Totals 17-55 13-20 52.
SALEM CC (2-0) – Maggie St. Clair 4-11 0-0 9, Daniella Gustin 3-6 0-0 6, Kathryn Laurence 5-10 1-2 14, Jakayla Jenkins 4-9 0-0 8, Akira Chambers 3-8 0-0 6, RayNescia King 2-4 1-2 5, Nyaijah Jackson 3-8 0-1 6, Caroline Zullo 2-3 1-2 6, Geovanna Tjaden 2-8 0-2 4, Jolee Robinson 0-0 0-0 0, Imara James 1-2 0-0 2, Alexa Hopkins 4-8 0-1 10. Totals 33-77 3-10 76.
| Delaware Tech | 10 | 13 | 15 | 14- | 52 |
| Salem CC | 10 | 18 | 22 | 26- | 76 |
3-point goals: Delaware Tech 5-21 (Jonson 0-2, Mills 3-12, Torres 2-8); Salem CC 7-25 (St. Clair 1-4, Laurence 3-5, Jenkins 0-2, King 0-2, Zullo 1-2, Tjaden 0-5, Hopkins 2-5). Rebounds: Delaware Tech 30 (Baker 5, Williams 5, Torres 5); Salem CC 49 (Gustin 14, Jenkins 8). Technical fouls: Torres, Whittle, Jackson. DQ fouls: Zullo. Total fouls: Delaware Tech 12, Salem CC 19.
Cold shoot dooms men
CARNEYS POINT – The Mighty Oaks got off to another slow start and this time they couldn’t shake it.
The Oaks fell behind by 14 at halftime and had one of the worst shooting nights in coach Mike Green’s 21-game tenure in the program and suffered their first loss of the season, 77-64 to Delaware Tech.
It was the third straight game the Oaks were slow out the gate, but the first one they’ve lost. They fell behind 14-0 to start Tuesday’s win over Bucks County CC and came from behind to earn a halftime tie in their opener with Delaware County CC before pulling away with a big second half.
“It’s on me, it’s on me, gotta figure it out,” Green said. “I’m switching lineups, I’m flipping through them, I think that (injured) Tamir Powell and Jyheim Spencer, those shoes, were too much to fill.
“Thought it would be a little easier. I thought guys would step up and claim it, but it shows we’re still missing Tamir Powell big time.”
It didn’t start that bad. The Oaks actually led early, scoring the first five points of the game, and were tied at 11, then the Squares, uh, squared up.
The Oaks started missing shots, turning it over and getting cleared out on the boards. The Squares pulled away with a 12-0 run and Salem could never catch up. They used a 15-5 run later in the half – with 10 second-chance points – to open a 16-point lead before halftime.
Salem got within nine with seven minutes left, then Tech scored 10 straight to regain a comfortable lead. Drew Zimmerman scored the last six points in that run and finished with 24 points in the game. Toma Smith had 17 points, Cam Moore grabbed 15 rebounds and Obi Coleman had 10 boards.
“We’re not that good to keep giving up points (and coming back to win); it showed today,” Green said. “Our guys think we could do that because it happened before, but we’re not that good. I like to say I’m a motivator coach; I think I overmotivated. I think I let these guys think they’re better than people, and that’s on me.
“We went up against a team that plays a lot of people and got whatever they wanted with the basketball. We prepared for it. Our guys just went out there and did whatever they wanted to. That was a good ol’ butt-whuppin’.”
It’s hard to come back when you don’t shoot it well. The Oaks shot 30.8 percent from the field and were an arctic 6-for-36 from 3-point range – second worse in the Green era to only a 4-for-34 at Northampton last February 15.
You didn’t have to remind Green of that. He has the box score from that game tackled to the corkboard in his office to keep him grounded.
Niame Scott hit a 3-ball to put the Oaks up 5-0, then they hit only three of their next 19 behind the arc the rest of the half and none in the final 7:15. Nine of their 12 players took at least two 3s in the game, but only five made at least one. Tyrone Tolson made two.
Rodney Shelton was Salem’s only scorer in double figures. He had 10 points and nine rebounds. Stefan Phillips had eight points and eight boards. Shyheed Taylor had eight points, five boards and four steals.
“We had some bright spots; we’ve just got to let those bright spots shine,” Green said. “We’ve got to let them shine. We’ve got to stop caring about spreading the minutes. Those guys who were good, they’re going to be good for us again.”
DELAWARE TECH 77, SALEM CC MEN 64
DELAWARE TECH (3-2) – Cameron Moore 2-9 3-4 8, Drew Zimmerman 9-18 6-10 24, Ethan Wilkins 3-8 2-2 9, Toma Smith 8-11 1-1 17, Obi Coleman 3-13 2-2 9, Corey Mitchell 0-0 0-2 0, Adam Bailey 1-1 0-0 3, Dominic Angeloni 0-0 0-0 0, Logan Fitch 0-0 0-0 0, Amare Whittington 0-0 0-0 0, James Gordy 2-4 0-0 4, Amari Moses 0-0 0-0 0, Christian Taylor 1-4 1-2 3. Totals 29-70 15-23 77.
SALEM CC (2-1) – Niame Scott 1-3 0-0 3, Tyrese Fortune 1-10 4-6 7, Tivon Woolford 1-3 0-0 2, Xavier Brewington 1-8 0-0 2, Rodney Shelton 5-10 0-0 10, Julien Jones 1-4 0-0 2, A.J. Jones 1-7 0-1 2, Josh Ramos 1-9 0-0 3, Tyrone Tolson 3-8 0-0 8, Shyheed Taylor 3-7 2-4 8, Stefan Phillips 3-4 3-3 8, Sami Anderson 3-5 2-3 9. Totals 24-78 10-16 64.
| Delaware Tech | 47 | 30- | 77 |
| Salem CC | 33 | 31- | 64 |
3-point goals: Delaware Tech 4-16 (Moore 1-4, Zimmerman 0-1, Wilkins 1-2, Coleman 1-3, Bailey 1-1, Angeloni 0-2, Gordy 0-1, Taylor 0-2); Salem CC 6-36 (Scott 1-3, Fortune 1-7, Woolford 0-2, Brewington 0-5, A. Jones 0-2, Ramos 1-7, Tolson 2-5, Taylor 0-2, Anderson 1-3). Rebounds: Delaware Tech 48 (Moore 15, Coleman 10); Salem CC 40 (Shelton 9, Phillips 8). Technical fouls: Zimmerman, Anderson. Total fouls: Delaware Tech 15, Salem CC 19.
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