Salem CC men beat Atlantic Cape to clinch playoff berth, women rally past Anne Arundel to keep their postseason hopes alive
By Al Muskewitz
Riverview Sports News
MAYS LANDING – The Salem CC basketball team won its fifth game in a row and qualified for the post-season Thursday with an 88-72 win over Atlantic Cape.
The Mighty Oaks improved to 14-4 with 10 regular-season games remaining. Teams that finish .500 or better in the regular season make it into the Region XIX tournament. They have never been 10 games over .500 since the school brought the program back five years ago.
They are 11-2 in Region XIX, third in the Division III standings by percentage points, second in games behind region leader Union.
The Mighty Oaks last made the playoffs 2021-22. They won an opening-round game over Thaddeus Stevens, then lost in the quarterfinals at CC of Philadelphia and finished the year 18-10.
“It’s not really a relief (to know they’ve qualified), to be honest,” coach Mike Green said. “We want to get as high as we can. We want to host a game come playoff time. The job’s not done yet. We’re still trailing, I think, three teams. Those games mean more to me.
“I’m definitely getting a whiff of that. It’s different now. The expectations we have within that locker room are different, maybe different than they’ve ever been for the Salem clubs. We’re wanting to compete for a championship. We said that from the beginning.:
The Mighty Oaks placed four scorers in double figures against the Buccaneers and had a pair of double-doubles. They took the lead in the middle of the first half and never gave it back.
Tamir Powell came out hot and led the scoring with a career-high 18 points on 7-of-11 shooting and four 3-pointers. He might have had even more if he hadn’t gotten three early fouls.
Akeem Taylor had 17 points, five assists, four steals and four blocked shots. Jyheim Spencer, who just received a D-I offer from Cal State-Bakersfield, had 16 points, 15 rebounds and five blocked shots; only one point has kept him from four double-doubles in his first four games. Tyrese Fortune had 14 points and 11 rebounds, his fifth double-double of the season.
“We try to get our guys to wear other guys down,” Green said. “We have a deeper bench than most people. Most people aren’t playing 10 people legit minutes. We play 10 people legit minutes and it’s starting to wear on teams. I looked at them (the Bucs) when we got up and down a couple times and was like they’re tired.”
Women finish strong
ARNOLD, Md. – The start of the stretch that will define the Salem CC women’s season got off to a good start Thursday night.
The Mighty Oaks (7-8) dominated the final 6:30 of the game, putting together a 16-2 run to rally past winless Anne Arundel 63-52. They trailed 50-47 with 6:36 to play, then scored the next 11 points to take the lead and never let it go.
After losing at home to Harcum Tuesday night, Salem coach Brian Marsh said his team’s next four games would give it a “good indication” of where they’d land for the season. They now have nine games left and must win at least five of them to qualify for the playoffs.
“We’re well aware of what we’re playing for,” Mighty Oaks coach Brian Marsh said. “We knew a loss today would have been really tough to overcome. I don’t think we played particularly well, but I thought we played well enough to win. We got off to a slow start, but we came through when we really needed it.”
Nyaijah Jackson came up big for the Mighty Oaks down the stretch, making several key steals and scoring seven of their last nine points. The freshman guard from Wilmington finished with a game-high 21 points and six steals off the bench.
Her steal and three-point play with 1:13 left in the second quarter drew the Mighty Oaks even after they trailed most of the first half.
“She was fantastic down the stretch,” Marsh said. “She’s such a competitor and she hates to lose and she just wanted to do whatever she could to win that game. I told her just go play your game, which is really tough defense and attacking the basket. I thought she did a really nice job and provided that spark that we really needed down the stretch.”
The Mighty Oaks won despite struggling from the outside. They made only two of 23 shots from 3-point range, but one of them – by Pennsville’s Caroline Zullo with 6:06 to go – gave them the lead for good. Zullo finished with seven points and eight rebounds.
Maggie St. Clair added 14 points. Jakayla Jenkins grabbed 10 rebounds.
“I think we were settling for a lot of jump shots,” Marsh said. “We just weren’t making anything outside, so I tried to speed the game up and told them they needed to get to the basket.
“I thought Ny did an excellent job really attacking the basket. Maggie started attack the basket. Trying to get some easier shots and if they don’t go in, they foul us and we get to the line. We were just trying to really get some higher percentage shots.”
Next up in the stretch is another road game Saturday at Essex, the team immediately ahead of them in the standings.
SALEM CC 63, ANNE ARUNDEL 52
SALEM CC (7-8) – Caroline Zullo 3-8 0-0 7, Maggie St. Clair 7-19 0-0 14, Dani Gustin 2-3 1-1 5, Kathryn Laurence 2-15 0-0 5, Jakayla Jenkins 3-7 1-4 7, RayNescia King 0-8 0-0 0, Nyaijah Jackson 9-18 3-6 21, Akira Chambers 1-4 0-2 2, Alexas Hopkins 1-4 0-0 2. Totals 28-86 5-13 63.
ANNE ARUNDEL (0-10) – Chloe Underwood 2-8 0-0 4, Holly Wall 0-3 0-0 0, McKenzie Gilbert 1-5 0-1 2, Reona Robinson 4-6 0-0 10, Ayannah Gorham 7-13 4-4 19, Aichatta Soumaoro 4-13 3-6 11, Lania Nick 3-13 0-0 6, Jasmine Mauldin 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 21-61 7-11 52.
| Salem CC | 11 | 12 | 22 | 18- | 63 |
| Anne Arundel | 15 | 10 | 18 | 9- | 52 |
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