‘Everything that could go wrong did’ for Mighty Oaks in Elite 8 loss to Mohawk Valley; play region rival Union in consolation bracket Friday at 2 p.m.
JUCO DIVISION III TOURNAMENT
Thursday’s Games
Consolation Bracket
(8) Northern Essex 107, (12) Dallas Mountain View 99
(7) Riverland 74, (11) Genesee 70
Championship Bracket
(9) Dallas-Richland 67, (1) Dutchess 60
(5) Herkimer 75, (4) Sandhills 72
(2) Mohawk Valley 71, (10) Salem CC 49
(3) Minnesota State-Fergus Falls 78, (6) Union 58
Friday’s Games
Consolation Bracket
Dutchess vs. Sandhills, noon
Salem CC vs. Union, 2 p.m.
Championship Semifinals
Dallas Richland vs. Herkimer, 5 p.m.
Mohawk Valley vs. Minnesota State Fergus Falls, 7 p.m.
By Al Muskewitz
Riverview Sports News
HERKIMER, N.Y. — The mood in the Salem CC dressing room was infinitely more subdued than it was the day before.
The overwhelming joy that came with getting their first ever win in the national tournament in their first try was replaced by a mournful sadness that comes with losing a big game that didn’t have their best effort.
The Mighty Oaks had hoped to ride the momentum of their opening-round win with another history-making result in the Elite 8 Thursday, but a long, tall Mohawk Valley team that had lost only once this season had different ideas. The third-ranked and second-seeded Hawks imposed their will inside and out and handed Salem a 71-49 loss.
The 49 points were the fewest the Mighty Oaks have scored in a game this season and second-fewest in Mike Green’s 50-game tenure as head coach. They came into the tournament as the ninth-best scoring team in JUCO Division III and fifth-highest scoring team here. Mohawk Valley was the No. 1 team in scoring defense and held them 37 points below their average.
“It was a really tough game for us,” Green said. “They just beat us in every facet of the game. Everything that could go wrong went wrong. One of our worst games of the year.”
“We just didn’t bring it mentally, we didn’t bring it as a team,” guard A.J. Jones said. “We didn’t have the energy … to feed off each other. No other team is beating us if we’ve got that.”
All is not lost, however. Although their dream of winning a national championship is dashed, the Mighty Oaks (24-8) do get to continue here and will play even bigger Region 19 rival Union at 2 p.m. Friday. A win in that game will allow them to play Saturday. A loss sends them home.
Mohawk Valley dominated the first half and led wire-to-wire. With a front line that went 6-6, 6-8, 6-10, the Hawks (27-1) clogged up in the inside, repelled most of the attacks Salem made on the basket and when the Mighty Oaks did miss predictably cleared the boards.
In the first half, Mohawk Valley held a 25-9 rebounding edge and outscored the Mighty Oaks 14-0 on second-chance points. Salem had one offensive rebound in the half (and missed the putback). They got around the big guys a little better in the second half and closed the gap to 13 with 10 minutes to play, but the hole was just too big to overcome even for a team that has been known all year for its second-half surges.
Even their own defense was good enough to win all but two of their games this year. If they just made more shots. The loss snapped a six-game winning streak.
The Hawks’ three bigs – 6-10 Isaiah Earl, 6-8 Andre Pasha and 6-6 Alex Barnhill – combined for 41 points and 27 rebounds. Pasha had 18 points on 8-of-18 shooting and 12 rebounds. Barnhill had 13 and nine. They bottled up 6-8 Salem center Jyheim Spencer, Division III’s second leading rebounder, to a career-low six rebounds.
“It’s something new, I never had to do that before,” Spencer said. “It was new to me. I’m trying to adjust to it at the same time so I’m just trying to follow what my coach is telling me so I could play the game right.”
Akeem Taylor was the only Salem player to have any success against the Hawks. He scored 23 points, grabbed seven rebounds and had five assists. Their other starters combined for nine points, with Spencer accounting for seven. Their three other starting guards went a combined 1-for-20 shooting and scored two points (Tamir Powell’s goaltending basket in the second half, his first bucket of the tournament). Jones scored seven points off the bench.
“I just feel like I was prepared real well for that (gauntlet of big men),” Taylor said. “We knew they would try to put a longer guy on me to try to stop me from getting to the basket, but I found my shot early and I think that’s what gave me the advantage.”
“He’s a dog, he gets up for games like that,” Green said. “We just didn’t have enough dogs to go with him – tonight.”
MOHAWK VALLEY 71, SALEM CC 49
SALEM CC (24-8): Tamir Powell 1-13 0-0 2, Tyrese Fortune 0-5 0-0 0, Xavier Brewington 0-2 0-0 0, Akeem Taylor 7-10 9-10 23, Jyheim Spencer 2-4 1-2 7, Dontarius Jones 0-3 0-0 0, A.J. Jones 3-5 0-0 7, Tivon Woolford 0-4 0-0 0, Josh Ramos 2-9 0-0 6, Rodney Shelton 0-1 0-0 0, Tajee Jordan 0-1 0-0 0, Stefan Phillips 2-3 0-0 4. Totals 18-60 10-12 49.
MOHAWK VALLEY (27-1): Jamir Smith 2-9 0-0 4, Jalen Bradberry 5-12 3-4 14, Andre Pasha 8-18 2-2 18, Isaiah Earl 1-4 8-8 10, Alex Barnhill 5-13 3-3 13, James Collar 0-0 0-0 0, Khai Pugh 3-6 0-0 6, A.J. Burns 0-0 0-0 0, Javon Smith 0-0 0-0 0, Jaeshaun Felder 2-4 0-0 4, Cam Pownall 1-2 0-0 2. Totals 27-68 16-17 71.
| Salem CC | 27 | 22- | 49 |
| Mohawk Valley | 43 | 28- | 71 |
(10) Salem CC (24-8) vs. (6) Union (24-5)
| STATISTICAL CATEGORIES | SALEM CC | UNION |
| Scoring average | 85.0 (10) | 85.2 (9) |
| Field goal shooting | .429 (51) | .618 (1) |
| 3-point shooting | .313 (41) | .415 (3) |
| Free throw shooting | .695 (14) | .624 (74) |
| Rebounding | 43.4 (14) | 46.6 (6) |
| Points allowed | 72.2 (21) | 71.9 (19) |
| Opponents field goal shooting | .398 (8) | .412 (17) |
| Opponent rebounding | 38.7 (57) | 31.3 (11) |
| Assists | 16.4 (28) | 15.8 (36) |
| Turnovers | 13.4 (27) | 8.4 (4) |
| Turnovers forced | 13.9 (43) | 17.0 (11) |
| Steals | 9.5 (27) | 12.6 (5) |
| Blocked shots | 4.5 (17) | 5.7 (6) |
Riverview Sports News 