Salem CC men eclipse last year’s win total by getting past RCSJ-Gloucester; women fall at Middlesex
By Al Muskewitz
Riverview Sports News
DEPTFORD – The Salem CC basketball team reached another milestone in what is quickly becoming an historic season.
The Mighty Oaks came from behind Saturday to beat RCSJ-Gloucester 94-75 for its third win in a row. More significantly, it was their 12th win of the season (12-4), eclipsing their win total of the entire 2023-24 season (11-14), and moving them within two wins of qualifying for postseason play.
“I’m not downplaying that, it’s definitely significant, but the job’s not finished,” coach Mike Green said. “That was never our goal to win more games than last year. Our goal is to compete for something at the end of the year, compete for a championship, compete for a trophy, all that stuff. And we’re in a good position to do so, so far.”
Their best season since reviving the program was 18-10 in 2021-22, but that team didn’t get its 12th win that season until Feb. 1.
It took the Mighty Oaks a while to get going in this one. They fell behind by 11 six minutes into the game and trailed by nine with nine minutes left in the half. But that’s where they started to turn it around.
They put together a 22-4 run to take the lead before halftime and then opened the second half with an 18-2 run to put it away.
“We want to wear teams out,” Green said. “Teams that play six and seven people, we want to wear them out. I feel like we wore them down with our first unit, then our second unit came in and wore them down. It worked out well that way.
“And we guarded better. The first half they shot a high percentage – it looked like they barely hardly missed. The second half we did a better job guarding them in the half court and got out and got some runs.”
Everybody contributed. Jaheim Spencer had a game-high 19 points, but six players scored in double figures. Akeem Taylor and Josh Ramos each had 12, Tamir Powell and Tyrese Fortune each had 11, and Tajee Jordan had 10.
Powell had nine straight points in the middle of the first-half flurry, including a 3-pointer with 4:54 left in the half that gave the Mighty Oaks the lead for good
After Saturday’s high-scoring win, the Mighty Oaks are 14th in JUCO Division III in scoring. They’re in the top 10 in 3s made per game and free throw percentage and the top 20 in rebounding.
With a plus-7 turnaround through 16 games over last season, might it be time for the Mighty Oaks to start getting attention in the Division III poll. After all, one of their most recent wins was over one of the teams also receiving votes in the most recent poll.
“How does that work?” Green asked. “I think we’ve done enough to at least get some votes, but that’s on the coaches. Can’t really control that. If somebody thinks we’re a force to be reckoned with, then cool. If not, then we’ll be showing them.”
Top photo: Salem CC’s Jaheim Spencer (32) races to bring the ball up the floor against RCSJ-Gloucester Saturday. (Photo courtesy Gus Ostrum, RCSJ-Gloucester)
SALEM CC 94, RCSJ-GLOUCESTER 75
SALEM CC (12-4) – Jyheim Spencer 9-16 1-3 19, Akeem Taylor 4-7 3-5 12, Josh Ramos 4-8 0-0 12, Tamir Powell 5-9 0-0 11, Tyrese Fortune 5-8 0-1 11, Tajee Jordan 5-7 0-0 10, Xavier Brewington 3-6 0-0 8, A.J. Jones 3-3 0-0 6, Tivon Woolford 2-5 0-0 5, Dontarius Jones 0-4 0-0 0. Totals 40-73 4-9 94.
RCSJ-GLOUCESTER (6-10) – Hajir Davis 5 4-6 16, Titus Bacon 5 2-4 14, Ace Cassiter 3 2-3 9, Aiden Cranmer 2 0-2 5, Fred Orock 7 2-6 16, Kendell McCray 3 1-1 7, Chance Kershaw 0 0-0 0, Daniel Mendez 5 0-3 10, Jon Guzman 0 0-0 0, Amara Sacko 0 0-0 0. Totals 30 11-25 75.
| Salem CC | 45 | 49- | 94 |
| RCSJ-Gloucester | 41 | 34- | 75 |
Women’s game
EDISON – It was a game, comparatively speaking, the Salem CC women should have brought back to Carneys Point as a win.
The Mighty Oaks drilled Delaware Tech by 24 when the teams played earlier this year. Middlesex barely beat them at the buzzer when they played recently.
But that’s the danger of comparing scores. The Mighty Oaks struggled in the second half on the road and Middlesex sent them home with a 63-40 setback.
Salem scored only 14 points in the second half. Middlesex’ Genilah Singleton had nine of her game-high 15 in the third quarter.
“There was no energy, no execution,” Mighty Oaks coach Brian Marsh said. “And on the road that’s not a good combination.”
Maggie St. Clair was Salem’s leading scorer with 10 points. The Colts (7-8) had three scorers in double figures.
The Mighty Oaks (6-7) return to action Tuesday at home against Harcum (11-4), No. 19 in the last JUCO Division II poll dated Dec. 16.
MIDDLESEX 63, SALEM CC 40
SALEM CC (6-7) – RayNescia King 0 2-2 2, Nyaijah Jackson 2 1-2 5, Caroline Zullo 2 0-0 5, Maggie St. Clair 4 0-0 10, Dani Gustin 0 0-3 0, Kathryn Laurence 1 0-0 2, Jakayla Jenkins 4 1-1 9, Akira Chambers 3 1-2 7, Alexa Hopkins 0 0-0 0. Totals 16 5-10 40.
MIDDLESEX (7-8) – Yasmen Zafar 1 7-10 9, Genilah Singleton 6 2-6 15, Julianne Reyes 1 0-0 2, Alyssa Rice 5 0-0 10, Abria Durham 0 0-2 0, Amya Green 4 0-0 8, Reema Azouzi 0 0-0 0, Jalena Santiago 0 0-0 0, Taijaney McCollum 1 0-0 2, Kezia Feaster 4 2-5 11, Angelia Peralta-Almonte 3 0-2 6. Totals 25 11-25 63.
| Salem CC | 14 | 12 | 6 | 8- | 40 |
| Middlesex | 17 | 17 | 15 | 14- | 63 |
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