Little, Lee, Rines spark second-half surge that sends No. 5 Salem CC to opening-night win over Atlantic Cape
By Al Muskewitz
Riverview Sports News
MAYS LANDING – As the reigning fifth-place and preseason fifth-ranked team in the country, Salem CC basketball coach Mike Green knows his team has a target somewhat unfairly on its back this season and will get the best effort from every opponent every game.
The Mighty Oaks, with virtually an entire new team from the one that finished fifth at the nationals a year ago (which makes the target reference unfair), got the best Atlantic Cape had to offer in their season opener Thursday night and they didn’t handle it very well early. One of the players called it the worst half of basketball they’ve played.
But they found the difference between being the high schoolers many of them were at this time last year and the college game during the break, came out a different team in the second half and sank the Buccaneers 80-73.
“We have a lot of freshmen,” said one of them, forward Idris Rines. “We have one returning guy from last year (Stefan Phillips), so that was like our first big test. I think we adjusted well in the second half. We were mentally still in high school (in the first half), but in the second half we were ready for the comeback. We prepared, we stayed together, fought adversity and trusted each other.”
The Mighty Oaks trailed by as many as 12 in the first half and by nine at halftime in large part because they were terribly out rebounded. The Buccaneers had more offensive rebounds (14) than Salem had boards (12) and scored 11 second-chance points off them.
Nasseem Wright and Zyaire Gibson kept them in the half. Wright had 11 points and five rebounds, while Gibson hit three 3-pointers. Wright finished with 15 points, eight boards and eight blocks.
Luckily, the Mighty Oaks were hitting their free throws. They were 14-of-16 from the line in the first half, 28-of-32 in the game. They were 69.9 percent foul shooters as a team last year.
“We struggled with it through the whole jamborees and exhibitions,” Green said. “It’s good to see the work we put in in practice is worth something.”
Their second-half surge was led by Rines, leading scorer Saaid Lee and Jarrell Little. Lee and Little combined for 29 points in the half. Rines scored nine points in the half, including two huge 3-pointers during the comeback.
They also closed the rebounding gap. They were still outrebounded in the half 20-17, but they gave up only five second-chance points.
“We just had to adjust to the game and be more physical with them,” Lee said. “They started off punching us in our face so we had to punch them right back and be physical.”
Little scored all 14 of his points in the final 20 minutes after being held scoreless in the first half. Green getting on him during the break provided the proper incentive.
“Mentally I was out of it,” he said. “This is my first game out of high school so I was struggling at the beginning but I just let the game come to me. I wasn’t ready for the physicality. In high school I used to get fouled a lot, but our here it’s more like a grown men’s game. Every game you’ve gotta play hard.”
At 6-6 one might think Rines would be more comfortable inside than out, but the 3-ball is a big part of his game and Green actually encourages to shoot. He was 2-of-6 behind the arc and also had five rebounds and three blocks.
“My high school coach, Coach (Derek) Brooks, my tenth-grade year (at Upper Dublin), he stepped in – it was his first year – and he really worked with me and my 3-pointers,” Rines said. “I was always a talented 3-point shooter growing up, but once I got into high school I really developed it. I hit over 50 3s my senior year.
“I always have confidence in my 3s, but I think teams probably don’t think so and people think I’m probably an inside post. That’s like a big advantage. People just go in the corner and are like oh he can’t shoot and we just light ‘em up from 3.”
After trailing virtually the whole game, the Mighty Oaks finally got it tied at 53 on a pair of Wright free throws with 11:17 to play. Little gave them their first lead since 2-0 on a layup with 9:48 left.
The teams either traded the lead or had it tied nine times over the next six minutes until Lee gave the Mighty Oaks the lead for good with 3:30 to play. on a layup with 3:01 left. The Buccaneers never got closer than four the rest of the way.
“I recruit toughness, high character kids,” Green said. “They got down and I challenged them at halftime and they responded.
“They’re really high school kids so they’re used to getting on somebody lesser and just taking the ball from them. You’re not going to do that at this level. I think they got the message at halftime and they adapted.”
Salem CC 80, Atlantic Cape 73
SALEM CC (1-0) – Saaid Lee 6 7-8 19, Jarrell Little 5 4-4 14, Nasseem Wright 4 7-8 15, Stefan Phillips 0 2-2 2, Zyaire Gibson 3 0-0 9, Quadeair Smith 0 1-2 1, Lenar Anderson 2 0-0 5, Idris Rines 3 5-6 13, Jaiayre Wright 0 2-2 2. Totals 23-56 28-32 80.
ATLANTIC CAPE (0-1) – John Andalora 1 0-0 2, Quinn Baumann 1 0-0 2, Jaleel Clark 0 0-0 0, Amin Hines 2 4-7 8, Rashad Jalloh 2 0-0 4, Sahmir Jones 1 0-0 2, Olyn Knox 5 6-6 16, Jayden Lopez 0 0-0 0, Justin Moore 1 0-0 2, Carlos Rodriguez 8 4-6 24, Logan Sparks 4 3-7 11, Corey Thomas 1 0-0 2. Totals 26 17-26 73
| Salem CC | 36 | 44- | 80 |
| Atlantic Cape | 45 | 28- | 73 |
3-point goals: Salem CC 6-20 (Little 0-2, Gibson 3-7, Anderson 1-1, Rines 2-6, Phillips 0-3, Smith 0-1); Atlantic Cape 4 (Rodriguez 4). Fouled out: Jones. Total fouls: Salem CC 19, Atlantic Cape 25.
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