Mighty Oaks respond to coach’s time out to run away from Luzerne, match 2020-21 team for most wins in a season since program return; third quarter dooms Salem CC women on the road

By Al Muskewitz
Riverview Sports News

CARNEYS POINT – Mike Green had seen enough to know he had seen too much. Luzerne had just taken the early lead, the Salem CC basketball team had just committed back-to-back turnovers and Green knew if something didn’t change soon his Mighty Oaks would fall into a trap they might not be able to escape from.

He did what any coach seeing his team on the edge would do. He called a time out to propagate a change.

Message received. The Mighty Oaks scored the next 10 straight points as part of a bigger 24-4 run that sent them off and running to a 112-67 win.

“It looked like weren’t ready to play, man,” Green said. “It was like they stayed up all night and I just let them know they (Luzerne) traveled about two and half, three hours; we’re at home. You guys act like you don’t want to play.

“This is an opportunity. Some guys aren’t going to have that opportunity on Tuesday. Take advantage of all the opportunities you get. I just let them know this ain’t no sleep game. You’ve got to come out and play, they’re basketball players. The guys picked up on that and we got rolling.”

The Mighty Oaks (18-6) broke 100 for the fourth time this season despite missing three starters to illness and injury, including leading scorer Akeem Taylor (ankle), whose status is uncertain for Tuesday’s important region game at Montgomery CC. With the win, they now have matched the 2020-21 team (18-10) for the winningest season since bringing back the program.

The Mighty Oaks got points from everywhere, with five players scoring in double figures. Josh Ramos and Tyrese Fortune led the way with 24 points apiece. A.J. Jones had 20, Jyheim Spencer had 18 and another double-double, and Stefan Phillips, pressed into his second career start in Taylor’s absence, had 11 points, nine rebounds and seven assists.

“Everybody getting involved is always good,” Phillips said. “That’s what you want. You don’t want one person to shine. You want the whole team to shine.”

It didn’t start easy. Luzerne’s Sedrick Beasley picked Fortune’s pocket and turned it into a layup with 12:55 left in the first half to give the Trailblazers (5-13) a 10-9 lead. Jones got called for an offensive foul on the next possession and that was enough for Green to call his fateful pause.

When the Mighty Oaks returned to the floor they ripped off the next 10 points to take the lead for good. The Trailblazers tried to stop the surge with a time out, but it only delayed the inevitable. Salem returned to the floor and ran off another eight in a row. They scored on eight straight possessions in the three-minute spree.

“Coach said get it together, they shouldn’t be in the game with us,” said Fortune, who hit a 2 and 3 in the middle of the first flurry. “I started off talking on defense and we started getting turnovers and advancing the ball up and scoring the ball every time we got downcourt.”

The points flowed so freely even Spencer hit a 3-pointer. It was his first in a scholastic or collegiate game since his senior year in high school – in 2020. He did hit one, he said, in the Philly Brotherly Love Pro-Am Summer League this past summer, but he was 0-for-3 from behind the arc in non-scrimmages for the Mighty Oaks before hitting early in the second half..

“All season I said I was going to take one, but I hadn’t hit one yet,” he said. “We were warming up and I was making the shot, so they basically told me if you’re making the shot you might as well shoot it in the game. I shot it in the game and I made it.”

“I don’t think it’s like a Bigfoot sighting,” Green said. “The kid has skills. He’s just unlocking a lot of different things. That’s one of the things we work on, getting him to unlock it and getting more confident. He’s got that shot and he’s gonna take it. He’s encouraged to take it.”

No one has to encourage Ramos to take the 3, but it’s encouraging when he hits them. He hit six 3s against the Trailblazers, three in each half. It was the most he’s had in a game since pumping in nine against RCSJ-Cumberland in mid-January and had hit only 16 in the nine games since before Saturday.

“It’s just getting back in my rhythm,” he said. “That’s the biggest thing, just being confident in my shot. I feel like I wasn’t too confident in my shot but I feel like now, today, I was beginning to get my shot up and get a feel for it.”

Everybody who had a big game was breaking out of something.

Jones had four 20-point games last year, but had scored only 25 points in his previous six games since his last double-figure outing. He was 7-for-9 from the field against the Trailblazers and 6-of-9 from the line. He also had five rebounds, five assists and three steals.

“We’re trying to get a championship, so I’m just here to give what the team needs,” he said. “Whether it’s defense, scoring, rebounding or assists, it doesn’t matter. Whatever the coach asks, that’s what you do. We’ve got plenty of guys who can do scoring and other things. I just do what the team needs.”

Phillips didn’t learn he was starting until right before the team came out for the opening tip. His only other start came in the second game with Williamson Trades Jan. 23, but he’s played in 19 games. He hardly missed a shot around the basket early in the season and he didn’t miss Saturday, going 4-for-4 from the field and 3-for-3 from the line.

“I was excited,” he said. “It took me back to how it felt back in high school. I just wanted to get back in the win column, that’s what charged me up. Coming back from a loss to be able to dominate the way we did was enough for me to be charged up.”

“He’s gonna be a rally good player next year,” Green predicted. “He’s good now, he’s going to be really good next year when he’s featured.”

Fortune had his career high. He had an eight-game stretch in the middle of the season in which he was averaging 12.8 a game, but he had only 37 points in the five games before Saturday.

“It all started off with practice, coach said just let it fly,” Fortune said. “He’s been telling me this all season, but I just had to get it out because the first part of the season I was in a struggle. I think it was just me rushing lot. Today I was patient, I got my team involved and everything just came to me, so I took advantage of it.”

SALEM CC 112, LUZERNE COUNTY 67
LUZERNE COUNTY CC (5-13) – Vagiba Donzo 0-1 1-2 1, Sedrick Beasley 6-11 2-4 15, Mackeenan Morgan 2-9 0-2 6, Vincent Garrett 3-20 2-4 8, Kaprie Cottle 2-6 2-2 8, Melvin Egbeto 2-4 2-3 7, William Preston 0-2 0-0 0, Al-Quron Michel 1-5 0-0 2, Tyler Collins 4-8 5-5 14, Ryan Probeyahn 3-4 0-0 6. Totals 23-70 14-22 67.
SALEM CC (18-6) – Dontarius Jones 0-9 2-2 2, Tyrese Fortune 7-13 6-6 24, Josh Ramos 9-19 0-0 24, Stefan Phillips 4-4 3-3 11, Jyheim Spencer 7-11 3-5 18, A.J. Jones 7-9 6-9 20, Rodney Shelton 3-7 0-0 6, Tajee Jordan 2-3 3-4 7. Totals 39-75 23-29 112.

Women’s game

BRANCHBURG – The Salem CC women held their own with Raritan Valley in the first half, but danger signs were looming.

Sophia Larsen made a steal and layup right before the buzzer to give the Lions a seven-point halftime lead, then they pulled away in the third quarter to hand the Mighty Oaks a 75-54 setback that increases the pressure on Salem’s hopes for a Region XIX playoff berth.

The Mighty Oaks fell to 10-10 and must win two of their remaining four games to extend their season.

The Lions (14-9) outscored Salem 23-8 in the third quarter. Ona Riopedre led four Raritan Valley scorers in double figures with 27 points. Larsen finished with 11.

Region XIX standings

Here are the men’s and women’s Region XIX basketball standings; games through Jan. 23

SATURDAY’S GAMES
Salem 112, Luzerne 67
Harrisburg Area 83, Passaic 71
Camden 89, Bergen 56
Ocean 93, Sussex 83
Essex 102, Mercer 92
Thaddeus Stevens at Montgomery
Delaware Tech at Harcum
Delaware County 85, Lehigh Carbon 80
Philadelphia 102, RCSJ-Cumberland 52
Chesapeake 83, Morris 73
Winchester 104, Raritan Valley 93
Lackawanna 88, Middlesex 65
Atlantic Cape 66, RCSJ-Gloucester 62

TUESDAY’S GAMES
Salem at Montgomery
Union at Philadelphia
Brooksdale at Passaic
Bergen at Ocean
Camden at Luzerne
Northampton at RCSJ-Gloucester
Lehigh Carbon at Thaddeus Stevens
Raritan Valley at Middlesex
Atlantic Cape at Delaware County
Mercer at Lackawanna

SATURDAY’S GAMES
Raritan Valley 75, Salem CC 54
Sussex 70, Ocean 44
Montgomery 74, Northampton 67
Camden 61, Bergen 40
Lehigh Carbon at Delaware County, canceled
Delaware Tech at Harcum
Montgomery 76, RCSJ-Cumberland 37
Mercer 79, Essex 65
RCSJ-Cumberland at Philadelphia
Middlesex at Lackawanna, ppd
Union 89, CCBC Essex 70
RCSJ-Gloucester 66, Atlantic Cape 45

TUESDAY’S GAMES
Raritan Valley at Middlesex
Camden at Montgomery
Bergen at Ocean
Essex at Harcum
Brookdale at Passaic
Northampton at RCSJ-Gloucester
RCSJ-Cumberland at Bucks
Mercer at Lackawanna
Delaware Tech at Union