In a great place

Salem CC men complete season-opening homestead 6-1 after beating Atlantic Cape; Brewington on a three-game tear

By Al Muskewitz
Riverview Sports News

CARNEYS POINT – When Coach Mike Green and Xavier Brewington got this year’s Salem CC basketball schedule and saw the first seven games of the season all were at home they genuinely thought the Mighty Oaks could go through the run undefeated.

Outside circumstances have since prevented that from happening – not by much – but they’re still in a pretty good neighbood.

The Oaks reached the end of their season-opening homestand Saturday with a 72-63 win over Atlantic Cape CC and are quite happy with the 6-1 record it produced. The only blemish is a loss to Delaware Tech. They’ve won four in a row., the longest streak since Jan. 25-Feb. 5, 2022 (five games).

“To be honest I thought we wouldn’t lose a game,” Green said. “We had a bunch of kids that we thought were going to be eligible. Think about it, there’s a 6-6 kid, a 6-5 kid, a 6-3 kid, so you’d be that much bigger and stronger.

“I was thinking 7-0, to be honest; I had hi-i-i-gh hopes, man. But where we are is great. We’re in a great place. These guys picked up the slack. We’ll be stronger in January.”
 
The Oaks strained the theory of being better shooters in the Saturday afternoon in the first half, but they came out with a different vibe in the second half that carried them to the victory.

When the Oaks guard better, they shoot better, and they did both to start the second half. They went on an impressive 21-1 run over the first five minutes of the half to turn a seven-point halftime deficit into a 13-point lead and then kept the Bucs at arm’s length the rest of the game.

They forced the Buccaneers (2-5) into six turnovers during that stretch and scored points (13) off all of them.

“During halftime we had a talk like we’re better than this and we had to push it,” Brewington said. “Coach told us we had to fight through it, it was going to be a dogfight the whole game. They’re not sweet, they’re a really good team, so we had to play as team and play harder than them.

“It’s not even halftime, it’s during the games, too. Coach is very blunt with us. He’ll tell what we need to do, what we need to get right. We take it to the chin and we’ve just got to push through it and do what the coaches tell us to do. That’s how it’s about winning.”

Brewington came off screens to hit a 3 and a 2 to give the Oaks the lead and then hit back-to-back 3s later in the half to keep the lead in double digits. The freshman scored a career-high 20 points and has scored 51 points in his last three games. 

He was 7-of-14 from the field against the Bucs and hit 5 of 9 from 3-point range against the Bucs. He also grabbed six rebounds, dealt six assists and played solid defense on the Bucs’ Christopher Parker. In his three-game hot streak Brewington is 16-of-33 from the field, 8-of-13 from 3, and 11-of-12 from the line.

“X is a good basketball player,” Green said. “He’s got to get comfortable. A too comfortable X is a danger to us. A comfortable X, a confident X, is a really, really good player. He hasn’t shown it; he’s been showing it these last (three) games. 

“He’s very comfortable and he’s confident right now. We’re trying to get the rest of our guys up there because there’s a bunch of them who can play. We’ve got to get them confident. We’ve got to get them comfortable.”

Rodney Shelton and Niame Scott also scored in double figures for the Oaks, putting up 12 points apiece. Scott also grabbed a team-high nine rebounds

The Oaks shot 41 percent overall (54-133) and 42 percent from 3-point range (28-of-67) in their two previous Saturday wins, a marked improvement from their colder hand during the midweek night games. 

But in the first half against the Bucs they were just 12-of-38 from the floor and 4-of-23 from 3-point range. They missed their last 12 shots from behind the arc.

But in the second half, shooting towards the windows that let in the daylight, they were 8-of-17 from 3-point range. Shyheed Taylor drained one from the top of the key to open the half and the Oaks were off and running. They hit four 3s in the opening salvo and six of their first nine shots overall.

Now the scenery changes. The Oaks play their next two games and four of the next five on the road.

“That might be better for us,” Green said. “I know when I played I used love being on the road, so maybe some of these guys can come out of their shell on the road.”

Salem CC 72, Atlantic Cape 63

ATLANTIC CAPE (2-5) – Deandre Brown 1-1 0-0 3, Jeremy Ellis 8-13 0-0 16, Jalen Jenkins 0-5 0-0 0, Omero Chevere 2-9 1-2 6, Christopher Parker 4-12 3-4 12, Maquaje McDaniels 3-9 2-2 9, Samir Jones 0-1 1-2 1, Ramar Cook 1-3 0-0 2, Semajah Echols 6-14 2-2 14. Totals 25-67 9-12 63.
SALEM CC (6-1) – Tyrese Fortune 2-9 0-0 4, Josh Ramos 1-4 0-0 3, Xavier Brewington 7-14 1-2 20, Rodney Shelton 6-8 0-0 12, Shyheed Taylor 1-3 3-3 6, Niame Scott 3-14 4-5 12, Julien Jones 1-1 0-0 2, A.J. Jones 1-8 2-3 5, Tivon Woolford 1-3 0-0 2, Tyrone Tolson 2-6 0-1 6, Stefan Phillips 0-1 0-0 0, Sami Anderson 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 25-72 10-15 72.

Atlantic Cape CC	35	28-	63
Salem CC	28	44-	72

3-point goals: Atlantic Cape 4-13 (Brown 1-1, Ellis 0-1, Chevere 1-4, Parker 1-3, McDaniels 1-3, Echols 0-1); Salem CC 12-40 (Fortune 0-4, Ramos 1-4, Brewington 5-9, Taylor 1-1, Scott 2-7, A. Jones 1-7, Woolford 0-1, Tolson 2-6, Anderson 0-1). Rebounds: Atlantic Cape 47 (Ellis 13, Echols 8, Parker 7); Salem CC 37 (Scott 9, Brewington 6, Shelton 6). Total fouls: Atlantic Cape 11, Salem CC 14.

Cover photo of Salem CC’s Xavier Brewington by John Holt.