Salem CC men rally after scary injury to their captain, pull away from winless Bergen with big second half; Mighty Oaks women drop fourth straight in loss to Raritan Valley
By Al Muskewitz
Riverview Sports News
CARNEYS POINT – Josh Ramos stood motionless out of the floor watching the medical professionals attend to teammate and captain Niame Scott in the foul lane in front of the Salem Community College bench. For the first time ever on a basketball court the Mighty Oaks sophomore guard felt helpless.
The entire gym went silent when Scott fell to the floor with a fractured right knee early in the second half of a Saturday game that was closer than the teams’ records said it should be. Play was delayed 22 minutes as trainers, team staff and eventually EMTs worked to stabilize the sophomore from Philadelphia and make him as comfortable as possible before taking him off the floor on a gurney and transporting him to a nearby hospital.
The home side wasn’t playing all that well before the mishap as winless Bergen was giving them all they could handle. But the Mighty Oaks’ mindset changed following the injury. They now had something – somebody – to play for.
They hit five 3-pointers in the first five minutes after play resumed and wound up scoring 61 points in the second half en route to a 97-68 victory.
“The whole thing was just to go out there and win the game for him,” Ramos said. “Mentally it definitely took a toll. We just had to turn it around. We just all knew we had to show up for him.”
The Mighty Oaks (8-2) had just taken a 45-44 lead on A.J. Jones’ bucket. On Salem’s next trip down the court Scott missed a short shot looking to extend the lead, went in for the rebound, then fell to the floor in agony after his foot lodged against the foot of a Bergen player. He immediately clutched his right leg.
It was initially believed Scott had only dislocated the knee, serious enough but an injury that would have given him a chance to return this season. Tests later determined it to be fractured.
It’s the latest in a growing number of injuries to hit the program. The Mighty Oaks already were missing four players with ankle/foot issues.
“It is a sad moment,” Ramos said. “He’s one of our main guys. It’s a big loss to our team.”
Scott was the team’s fourth-leading scorer (8.6 ppg) and second on the team in assists (21), but his presence provides a lot more than stats.
“He’s a big part of the team,” Mighty Oaks coach Mike Green said. “We have him doing a lot more than last year, we’ve asked him to play a lot harder, and he’s responded.”
Now as Scott recovers, Green said the team is “going to cover him with love, the greatest healer.”
Up to the point of the injury, it looked like the Mighty Oaks would have trouble scoring 75 points against the winless Bulldogs (0-10). They weren’t taking great shots in the first half and the ones they were taking they weren’t hitting. But Scott’s injury spurred them to action.
Ramos, who didn’t hit a shot in the first half, made four straight 3-pointers in the 19-2 barrage that followed the resumption. The Mighty Oaks shot 57 percent from the floor in the second half and were 8-of-16 from 3-point range. They were only 14-of-36 from the floor and 3-of-16 from 3 in the first half while falling behind 37-36 at halftime. They shot 17-of-28 after the injury to their captain.
“I knew with him going down it is a big loss, I had to step up personally,” Ramos said. “I knew I came out 0-for-4, 0-for-5 going into the half. I knew I had to step up, step into my role. We just got it going. You’ve just got to play harder, you’ve got to give it your all knowing that someone’s down and we came out with the win.”
The 61 points were the Mighty Oaks’ second largest one-half output this season, behind only the 62-point second half in the season opener against Delaware County that established their persona as a second-half team this year.
Seven of the 10 Mighty Oaks who played in the game scored in double figures. Xavier Brewington (17 points, 10 rebounds) and Rodney Shelton (12/12) both had double doubles. A.J. Jones had 14 points, Ramos 12, Tyrone Tolson and Stefan Phillips 11 apiece and Tivon Woolford 10. Shelton and Ramos scored all their points in the second half.
“It’s more of what we preach: Next man up,” Green said. “The next person’s got to be ready to play. We play a lot of guys. It’s always going to be next man up.”
The game got off to a balky start with Green calling back-to-back timeouts in the first 45 seconds of the game. It wasn’t something he saw on the court that bothered him as much as it was something he wasn’t going to see.
The Mighty Oaks’ lost their Hudl connection for recording the game and player highlights. Green sprinted back to the locker room during the first full timeout to find a solution, then called a 30-second timeout when he returned to the bench, not to implant any strategy that should’ve gone in the first TO, but to make sure the fix was installed properly.
“I would have burned a couple more if it had taken longer,” Green said. “We can’t miss this. This is these kids’ livelihood. Whatever they do well, they need to have it documented (for recruiting purposes).
“Every second needs to be documented; it’s that serious. The line is that short, so we wanted to make sure the kids get everything they can.”
Women’s game
RARITAN VALLEY CC 79, SALEM CC 63 – The Mighty Oaks women needed a win badly. They had lost their last three after opening the schedule with a three-game winning streak and were in danger of falling below .500 for the first time this season.
Coach Brian Marsh knew Saturday’s game with Raritan Valley was going to be a tight one and it was for three quarters. There were two bad stretches that them in.
The Mighty Oaks nearly recovered from the first one, but not from the second. In the span of about three minutes in the fourth quarter the Lions took a three-point lead to 15 and eventually handed Salem its fourth loss in a row.
The first bad stretch came in the final two minutes of second quarter when the Lions scored the last 12 points of the half after taking the lead for good with the 17th lead change of the game.
That’s how tight it was early. Salem led after the first quarter 16-15 when RayNescia King beat the buzzer with a 3-pointer from just across midcourt and the teams traded the lead until the Lions went on their run.
“Those two probably eight minutes dictated the whole game,” Marsh said. “I let them know a game is 40 minutes, not 32 minutes, not 37 minutes. They have to focus for the full (40) minutes.
“They get down and then they work their butts off to get back in it and it’s like they don’t have the energy left to complete it.”
The Mighty Oaks were plagued by 28 turnovers (19 steals), off which the Lions scored 34 points.
“We handled the press against (No. 4) Union much better than we did here, and that’s at home and it’s a bigger court,” Marsh said. “I think it’s a lack of focus at certain points. I’ve just got to do a better job of getting these girls to focus for 40 minutes. I really think that’s the big thing.”
Nyaijah Jackson led Salem with 14 points and seven rebounds. Akira Chambers had 10 points six boards.
Julia Fontanillo had a strong all-around game for Raritan Valley with 16 points, seven rebounds, seven assists and five steals. RV’s Sophia Larsen led all scorers with 18 points.
The Mighty Oaks won’t return to the floor until Thursday when they host Bucks County CC. They were supposed to play at CC of Morris Tuesday, but the Titans canceled due to a lack of players. Salem is looking to find a replacement game for later in the season.
MEN’S BOX SCORE
Salem CC 97, Bergen CC 68
BERGEN CC (0-10) – Amire Walker 4-14 7-11 18, Demetrius Chavis 6-14 0-2 15, Matthew Kelleher 5-11 0-0 12, Louis Sosa 3-8 4-4 11, Jayden Opio 2-9 0-0 4, Daniel Fernandez 1-3 0-0 2, Evan Meberg 3-6 0-0 6. Totals 24-65 11-17 68.
SALEM CC (8-2) – Julien Jones 0-4 0-0 0, A.J. Jones 5-9 3-4 14, Tivon Woolford 4-8 0-0 10, Xavier Brewington 6-11 2-2 17, Rodney Shelton 6-10 0-2 12, Niame Scott 1-5 2-2 4, Josh Ramos 4-12 0-0 12, Tyrone Tolson 4-7 2-2 11, Shyheed Taylor 1-3 4-8 6, Stefan Phillips 4-4 3-4 11. Totals 35-73 16-24 97.
| Bergen CC | 37 | 31- | 68 |
| Salem CC | 36 | 61- | 97 |
3-point goals: Bergen 9-34 (Walker 3-9, Chavis 3-8, Kelleher 2-8, Sosa 1-4, Opio 0-4, Meberg 0-1); Salem 11-32 (J. Jones 0-3, A. Jones 1-4, Woolford 2-2, Brewington 3-7, Scott 0-1, Ramos 4-11, Tolson 1-3, Taylor 0-1). Rebounds: Bergen 28 (Sosa 8, Opio 6); Salem 46 (Brewington 10, Shelton 12). Technical fouls: Salem coach Green. Total fouls: Berger 15, Salem 18.
WOMEN’S BOX SCORE
Raritan Valley CC 79, Salem CC 63
RARITAN VALLEY (5-4) – Sophia Larsen 4-14 9-11 18, Elizabeth May 2-10 0-0 6, Ona Riopedre 2-11 3-4 7, Telma Comba 3-9 3-5 9, Julia Fontanillo 7-14 2-4 16, Judith Vila 1-3 0-0 3, Paula Aguilera Ortega 0-1 4-4 4, Saionni Patrick 2-3 1-1 5, Madison Vitucci 4-4 1-1 11. Totals 25-69 23-30 79.
SALEM (3-4) – Nyaijah Jackson 4-7 6-8 14, Maggie St. Clair 2-10 0-0 5, Dani Gustin 1-2 0-0 2, Kathryn Laurence 4-8 0-0 8, Jakayla Jenkins 4-6 0-1 8, RayNescia King 2-5 0-0 5, Caroline Zullo 2-7 1-2 5, Akira Chambers 5-8 0-2 10, Alexa Hopkins 0-1 1-1 1. Totals 24-54 8-14 58.
| Raritan Valley CC | 15 | 24 | 15 | 25- | 79 |
| Salem CC | 16 | 12 | 23 | 12- | 63 |
3-point goals: Raritan Valley 6-24 (Larsen 1-6, May 2-9, Riopedre 0-5, Fontanillo 0-1, Vila 1-1, Vitucci 2-2); Salem 2-7 (St. Clair 1-2, Laurence 0-2, Jenkins 0-1, King 1-1, Hopkins 0-1). Rebounds: Raritan Valley 37 (Riopedre 8, Comba 7, Fontanillo 7); Salem 39 (Jackson 7, St. Clair 6, Gustin 6, Jenkins 6, Chambers 6). Fouled out: Larsen, Gustin, Jenkins. Total fouls: Raritan Valley 18, Salem 22.
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