Salem CC men’s basketball team sets modern-era single-game record for points, wins before Christmas in rout of RCSJ-Cumberland; score four double-doubles
By Al Muskewitz
Riverview Sports News
CARNEYS POINT – Salem Community College had its annual Christmas party in the lobby of the Dupont Fieldhouse Wednesday. The Mighty Oaks basketball team had its own party in the gym Thursday night.
Call it a Festival of Heights.
The coaches were decked out in colorful Christmas sweaters. There was hip-hop holiday music playing over the sound system. And by the end of the night the players were flying around the gym like Santa’s reindeer.
What better way to go into the holiday break than with an historic 114-56 rout of winless RCSJ-Cumberland in their final game of the first semester.
“It makes the holidays really good,” Mighty Oaks coach Mike Green said. “You’re not going anywhere with 99 concerns. You’re going in there building off what you just had.”
“It gives me a really positive attitude going into the holidays,” post Rodney Shelton said.
The game was historic on so many fronts. The Mighty Oaks (10-4) set a modern-era record for points in a game and became the first team since the school revived the program in 2019 to win 10 games before the break. They had six players score in double figures and an incredible four double-doubles, which Green said was “pretty cool.”
They had only six double-doubles all season prior to Thursday night and never more than two in any game. They had had only 11 in the previous 31 Green-coached games.
Their previous single-game high was 113 points against Atlantic Cape on Feb. 4, 2020. They had scored 110 under Green last season and 106 earlier this year (Lancaster Bible JV). The 10 wins are one more than Green won last year after being hired on Dec. 23. Ironically, RCSJ-Cumberland was his first game and first victory.
The 2021-22 team won nine games before its holiday break.
“That’s big time; that’s good,” Green said. “Take your hat off to the guys and our coaching staff. It shows we’re going in the right direction. It’s always great being the first. We want to be the first one with however many wins; is it 25? 30? We want to be the first with everything. That’s how you build programs. We’ve got 10, so we’re better than we were last year already.”
“I kind of knew (they’d do this well), if I’m being honest,” guard Josh Ramos said. “Coming into the season I felt with the group of guys we had, especially after last year with the low number we had, I had so much confidence that we would be one of the best teams in the region and (have) double-digit wins before the break.”
Ramos hit a career-high eight 3-pointers in the game, six in the second half, and led the Mighty Oaks in scoring with 28 points. The double-doubles in points and rebounds went to Shelton (17/13), A.J. Jones (17/10), Tyrese Fortune (14/10) and Xavier Brewington (13/14). Ramos also had five assists and Shelton had five blocked shots. It was the fourth time they went over 100 in Green’s tenure.
“Just everybody chipping in,” Green said. “That’s how we want the team to look. It showed tonight. We just played the right way and shared the ball. It was a good look for us.”
“It really shows how deep we are, how good we actually are,” Ramos said. “I feel like when we all play as a team, everyone’s playing hard, look at the box score, there are four double-doubles, everyone’s in double digits, that’s how we should play every night.”
“When we all share the ball it’s like we’re out there playing outside,” Shelton said. “That’s exactly what it felt like. It felt like an outside game playing with the bros.”
It wasn’t as if the Mighty Oaks were intentionally running it up. They called off the press with 12 minutes left. They only have nine players available, so it’s not like they could empty the bench with deep reserves. And the shot clock keeps them from holding onto the ball.
The Mighty Oaks hit eight 3-pointers in the second half as a team. Ramos, who said his range is all the way to “the parking lot,” was 6-for-9 from a variety of distances behind the arc in the half. He hit three in a row early in the half and had four in the 25-5 run it became. He goes into the break ranked third in JUCO Division III 3-pointers (43-107) while the team is third in 3s made per game (9.6) and attempts per game (29.0).
“My biggest thing is I know if I come out slow I just stay sane,” he said. “I keep myself composed just knowing that there’s a whole ‘nother half to shoot and help win the game. I don’t really dwell too much on the first half and I just come out in the second half.”
Jason Brice led the Dukes (0-14) with 24 points, three 3s and six rebounds. Schalick product Nasir Sutton had a JUCO career high eight points and five rebounds.
SALEM CC 114, RCSJ-CUMBERLAND 56
RCSJ-CUMBERLAND (0-14) – Kyelle Ruiz 0-2 0-0 0, Lemann Johnson 5-17 1-4 13, Ryan Due 3-16 4-9 11, Jason Brice 8-13 5-9 24, Rodrigo Gonzales 0-7 0-0 0, Mike Dougherty 0-4 0-0 0, Nasir Sutton 2-3 4-4 8, Aidan Hobson 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 18-62 14-26 56.
SALEM CC (10-4) – Dontarius Jones 4-5 1-2 11, Tyrese Fortune 4-11 6-6 14, Tivon Woolford 0-4 0-0 0, Xavier Brewington 5-11 2-2 13, Rodney Shelton 8-16 1-1 17, A.J. Jones 6-14 4-4 17, Josh Ramos 9-16 0-0 26, Shyheed Taylor 2-6 3-5 7, Stefan Phillips 4-7 0-0 9. Totals 42-90 17-20 114.
| RCSJ-Cumberland | 27 | 29- | 56 |
| Salem CC | 51 | 63- | 114 |
3-point goals: RCSJ-Cumb 6-22 (Johnson 2-7, Due 1-3, Brice 3-7, Gonzales 0-2, Dougherty 0-3); Salem 13-31 (D. Jones 2-2, Fortune 0-1, Woolford 0-2, Brewington 1-5, A. Jones 1-4, Ramos 8-15, Taylor 0-1, Phillips 1-1). Rebounds: RCSJ-Cumb 26 (Brice 6); Salem 67 (Fortune 10, Brewington 14, Shelton 13, A. Jones 10). Technical fouls: RCSJ coach Stalling. Fouled out: Woolford, Phillips. Total fouls: RCSJ-Cumb 17, Salem 22.
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