Leaving a winner

Mighty Oaks close historic season with 77-75 win over Sandhills for fifth place in JUCO Division III national tournament; Taylor named all-tournament

JUCO DIVISION III CHAMPIONSHIP
At Herkimer, N.Y.
Fifth-place game
(10) Salem CC 77, (4) Sandhills CC 75
Third-place game
(9) Dallas Richland 86, (3) Minnesota State 69
Championship game
(2) Mohawk Valley 58, (5) Herkimer 51

By Al Muskewitz
Riverview Sports News

HERKIMER, N.Y. – The final game of an historic year went down to the wire and the Salem CC prevailed, bringing a joyous end to the winningest season in the history of the men’s basketball program.

A.J. Jones hit a free throw with 9.9 seconds left to give them a two-point lead and the Mighty Oaks survived two potential game-tying shots at the basket to get past Sandhills (N.C.) CC 77-75 Saturday to claim fifth place in the NJCAA Division III national tournament.

The tenth-seeded Mighty Oaks (26-8) knocked off the seventh, sixth and, finally, fourth seeds in their first-ever national tournament appearance.

“At the end of the year there are only a couple of teams that leave a winner,” Mighty Oaks coach Mike Green said. “We had an opportunity to leave a winner, so we won out. Everybody here who is leaving, they won their last junior college game, so that’s good. That feels really good.”

“Top five in the country. We can say that now,” sophomore guard Akeem Taylor said. “This is definitely a big win. I feel like every win we had in this tournament was a big win because every game was history for the school and I feel like they’ll always remember this because it’s the start of a new culture here at Salem.”

Taylor was named to the all-tournament team after scoring 21 points, grabbing a career-high 15 rebounds and dealing six assists against the Flyers (28-8), who also were in their first-ever national tournament appearance. In the four tournament games, the 6-4 sophomore guard from Chester had 78 points, 37 rebounds and 17 assists.

Because of some caveat of not playing in 80 percent of the Mighty Oaks’ games – he became eligible in January and played 80 percent of the games he was eligible – Taylor wasn’t even considered for the All-Region 19 team. But he was named MVP of the Region 19/North Atlantic District B Tournament and made the national tournament all-star team.

“Before the game we thought I already had it locked in, but they said it was questionable,” Taylor said. “Before the game my goal was to dominate and I feel like I did well today.”

While Taylor was the only Salem player to make the all-tournament team, Tamir Powell and Jyheim Spencer also had big games in what likely will be their final games in a Salem uniform. Powell had 20 points – 19 in the second half – while Spencer had 12 points, 21 rebounds and three blocked shots. The single-game tournament record for rebounds is 28.

“It was the last game of JUCO and I was trying to set the tone for the team for next year,” Spencer said. 

The Mighty Oaks scored their biggest win in school history with their typical second-half surge and despite another tough game from behind the arc. They were 8-for-34 from 3-point range in the game, but at one point were only 2-for-20. They were just 1-of-17 in the first half. Had they just hit at their season clip they would have been leading by double digits instead of being down by three at halftime and sweating it out down the stretch.

Green refused to blame the shooting struggles on tired legs from playing four grueling games in four days.

“We’re not making any excuses, we just missed shots,” he said. “But our guys hit them when they mattered the most. Teams look at our percentage and try to zone us, but I know better. Those guys can shoot the ball. It’s just about taking the right shots.”

The Mighty Oaks were 4-for-26 from behind the arc with less than five minutes to play and trailed by four. Then all of a sudden they found the range.

Josh Ramos, 0-for-5 at the time in the game and 4-for-20 in the tournament, hit back-to-back 3s to draw them within one and then tie the game 62-62 with 3:26 to go. Powell hit one and then Ramos hit another from the left corner with 54.9 seconds left to cap an 8-0 rally that put Salem up for good 72-69.

“We were definitely tired coming up, we didn’t have any legs,” Ramos said. “But at halftime they told us to lock in, there are bigger things to worry about, things to finish the game, then – boom – we came out and shot the thing.

“I knew if it came to me I was ready for it. I wanted it to come to me and when it came to me I let it fly.”

Right after Ramos’ go-ahead 3, the Mighty Oaks forced Sandhills into a turnover, but the Flyers got it right back when Taylor couldn’t get the ball inbounds. Although it looked bad at the time, Taylor accepted it hoping to get a stop on the ensuing play instead of throwing it away.

That’s what happened. Taylor blocked Sandhills Damien Robinson from behind and grabbed the rebound, but the officials called him for a flagrant foul after checking the monitor. Zack Noel made one of the two free throws to make it 72-70 and this time on the inbounds play Taylor threw a baseball pass to Spencer, who finished it off with a resounding dunk.

“I saw the way they were guarding (the inbounds), so I saw it from the start,” Taylor said. “Once (Spencer) went, I threw it. I was scared to throw it; that was probably one of the first times I was that nervous. But I threw it and when I saw him catch it I knew it was dunk.”

“I wanted to make a statement,” Spencer said.

It still wasn’t over. Kendall Smith hit three free throws with 12.8 seconds left to make it 76-75. Spencer briefly lost the handle on the inbounds play, but got it to Jones, who was immediately fouled by Smith at 9.9. Jones made the second of his two free throws to make it a two-point game.

Green declined to outline the final defensive sequence, but the Mighty Oaks certainly didn’t want to lose the game on a 3. They chased the Flyers off the 3-point line to make them take a tough mid-range jumper and succeeded. Isaiah Upchurch, 1-of-9 from the floor at the time, took the initial shot from just inside the arc, launching it with 2.8 seconds left.

The ball caromed off the back iron and Robinson flew in over Spencer shoulder for a tip, but the flying Flyer got blocked by the rim with sixth-tenths of a second left and Spencer swatted the rebound back as the horn sounded.

“I was just hoping for us not to foul,” Powell said. “I wasn’t worrying about their shot going in. I knew we would stay inside them – we were playing good defense – I just hoped we didn’t foul. As long as we didn’t foul I knew we were  good and they missed the shot like I thought so.”
 
The Mighty Oaks checked a lot of boxes this season. They had their winningest season in school history. They made their first region tournament appearance since 2022. They won their first district title to make their first national tournament appearance. They picked up their first national tournament win. They also had the district MVP, region/district Coach of the Year and an all-tournament pick at the nationals.

“Amazing year, amazing, big-time year,” Green said. “The guys came together and made it happen. I think we have a pretty good team coming in next year, but this is uncharted territory. It’ll be a disservice to the kids who come in next year to try to do the same thing. That was amazing.”

ACORNS: The Mighty Oaks were 31.5-percent 3-point shooters entering the tournament, but were just 26-for-104 (.250) in their four games here … They were down two players as Tyrese Fortune (wrist) and Stefan Phillips (broken nose) were out with injuries … A.J. Jones started in Fortune’s spot. It was his third start of the year and first since Feb. 6. He played 26 minutes, giving the Mighty Oaks three points, four rebounds, three assists … The Mighty Oaks finished the season 14th in scoring (84.4) and 21st in scoring defense (72.1) … If they played enough games to qualify Taylor would finish 18th in Division III in scoring and Spencer would finish second in rebounding … Team officials are hoping to have a signing ceremony for the Mighty Oaks moving on to the next level later this spring. So far, only Rodney Shelton has committed (Harris-Stowe).

SALEM CC 77, SANDHILLS CC 75
SALEM CC (26-8) – Tamir Powell 5-16 7-8 20, A.J. Jones 0-5 3-5 3, Xavier Brewington 2-7 0-0 4, Akeem Taylor 8-18 4-4 21, Jyheim Spencer 4-6 4-6 12, Dontarius Jones 2-4 0-0 5, Tivon Woolford 0-4 0-0 0, Josh Ramos 3-11 0-0 9, Rodney Shelton 0-0 0-0 0, Tajee Jordan 1-1 1-2 3. Totals 25-72 19-25 77.
SANDHILLS CC (28-8) – Kevin Gentry 2-5 0-0 4, Mike Fee 2-4 0-0 4, Isaiah Upchurch 1-10 4-6 6, Damien Robinson 8-18 4-4 21, Zack Noel 2-9 2-4 6, Kendall Smith 1-6 6-9 8, Mylon Campbell 5-13 1-2 11, Jacob Grantham 0-0 0-0 0, Nylikk Throutman 6-10 0-1 13, Amarie Liburn 0-3 0-0 0, Xavion White 0–1 2-2 2. Total 27-79 19-28 75.

Salem	27	50-	77
Sandhills	30	45-	75

3-point goals: Salem 8-34 (Powell 3-10, A. Jones 0-2, Brewington 0-4, Taylor 1-3, D. Jones 1-2, Woolford 0-3, Ramos 3-10); Sandhills 2-3 (Upchurch 0-2, Robinson 1-1, Troutman 1-1). Rebounds: Salem 54 (Spencer 21, Taylor 15); Sandhills 50 (Noel 15, Robinson 7). Technical fouls: Salem coach Green. Total fouls: Salem 21, Sandhills 17. Officials: Tim Seil, Dan Viscariello, Ryan Schupp.