Back to his old self

Saturday basketball roundup: Lecator getting back into form, just in time for Salem to make a run; Cherokee bombards Woodstown with 3s, and more

BOYS GAMES
Salem 51, St. Joseph 45
Cherokee 65, Woodstown 50
West Deptford 50, Salem Tech 27
Maple Shade 47, Pennsville 36 (OT)
GIRLS GAME
Cinnaminson 56, Woodstown 34

By Al Muskewitz
Riverview Sports News

SALEM – When Tymear Lecator is at the top of his game Salem basketball coach Anthony Farmer is convinced he’s one of the better guards in South Jersey.

The junior hasn’t been quite up to his form of last season – and there are reasons for that – but Saturday he looked like the Lecator of old. Even he said it was the first time this year he felt like his old self.

Lecator exerted himself early, beating his season high in points by halftime. But he didn’t stop there. Even with foul trouble that kept him out most of the third quarter, he still had 19 points, six rebounds and four assists to lead the Rams past St. Joe’s of Hammonton 51-45.

“I definitely wanted to get back to what I was last year and I knew I was being short of myself and I was hurting the team so I tried to come back,” he said. “I’ve been in the gym consistently getting shots up so that definitely played a big part (in Saturday’s success). I was just ready to go today. I was amped up.”

He didn’t waste any time showing it. He scored the first basket of the game and had nine of the Rams’ 11 first-quarter points. Then he scored six in the 14-0 second-quarter run that gave the Rams an eight-point halftime lead.

That’s 15 points in the half. His best game this year before Saturday was 13 in the season opener against Woodstown.

It was only his third game this season scoring in double figures; he did it 19 times last year, including a triple-double against Clayton. But he also has been dealing with some things he didn’t face last year, either. He underwent off-season wrist surgery and missed most of the Pleasantville game after rolling his ankle.

“I was down on myself for a little bit but I knew I was going to bounce back,” he said. “I wasn’t too hard on myself because I knew what I’m capable of. I just knew I had to let the pieces come together and now I’m back.”

Farmer is glad to see him starting to come around.

“Hopefully this gets him going, he finds his groove,” Farmer said. “We need him to be at full tilt because if we’re going to be the team we need to be down the stretch to try to lock up the 1 seed in Group 1 we need him to be playing at his best.”

Lecator isn’t the only Rams player making his way back. Senior Marshall Stephens is back on the floor after not playing basketball last year in New York. 

Providing the Rams the post presence they need with Antwuan Rogers graduating early to join Temple football in the spring, Stephens went for eight points, eight rebounds and four blocked shots against the Wildcats. In six games this year he’s averaging five points, 6.5 rebounds and has 14 blocks. He’s had 26 rebounds and 10 blocks in his last three games.

“I’m still getting back to myself,” he said, “but I feel like when it’s the middle of the season, when stuff really starts to go down, I’ll be back in my element.”

SALEM 51, ST. JOSEPH (H) 45
ST. JOSEPH (4-3): Caden Banks 3 2-2 8, Zehkiy DeJesus 4 0-0 9, Ayden Santiago 0 0-0 0, Chris Hill 2 1-1 6, CJ Mitchell 0 0-0 0, Eddie Drummond 8 2-4 22. Totals 17 5-7 45.
SALEM (5-1): Marshall Stephens 4 0-0 8, Xavier McGriff 0 2-2 2, Neziah Spence 3 4-4 10, Tymear Lecator 8 2-3 19, BJ Robbins 3 0-0 6, Deshaan Williams 2 2-6 6, Kyvion Parsons 0 0-0 0, Harlem Parsons 0 0-0 0, Cole Sayers 0 0-0 0. Totals 20 10-15 51.

St. Joseph	13	4	19	9-	45
Salem	11	14	10	16-	51

It’s raining 3s

WOODSTOWN — Cherokee’s Johnny Comito set up in the left corner for the first shot of the second half. He let it fly and it found the bottom of the net for yet another 3. 

Woodstown coach Ramon Roots just turned away and dropped his head. He’d seen this movie throughout the first half and it was starting all over again.

The Chiefs ended Woodstown’s five-game winning streak Saturday 65-50 under the weight of a season-high 11 3-pointers.

At halftime the Chiefs (6-1) had more points on 3s than the Wolverines (5-3) had points, a trend that carried until midway through the third quarter.

Cherokee’s previous season-high from behind the arc was seven, in the season opener against Cherry Hill West, but they hit six twice thereafter.

Louis Galasso had the hottest hand, hitting six 3s, tying his season high, on the way to 26 points. Tony Fuscia hit three.

“I knew they could get hot,” Roots said. “Everything was going in tonight for them. They shot the ball very well.”

The Chiefs led wire-to-wire. They hit the first two buckets of the game and never trailed. Every time Woodstown got close, they’d hit another 3.

“They shot very well,” Wolverines senior guard Eli Caesar said. “We could’ve contested their shots better, but they were hitting them. It’s kind of hard to defend it when they’re just hitting them. Even when you’re closing out they’re still making them.”

The Wolverines got into the act in the second half. They hit four 3s in the third quarter to keep up – but just to keep up. It helped them score 19 points in the quarter to stay within the seven they trailed by at halftime.

Caesar had three in the quarter and had a career-high six in the game to finish with a game- and career-high 28 points.

“I feel like we’re a good 3-point shooting team, we’re pretty confident shooters,” Caesar said. “I felt like I had to get us back in the game. They went on an 8-0 run to start the third quarter, so I knew we had to flip the switch.”

The Wolverines got within four on a 3-pointer by Alejandro Vazquez with 4:35 to play, but then Galasso hit another 3 and the Chiefs closed it out from the free throw line. In that final stretch Galasso hit two 3s and the Chiefs went 10-for-12 from the foul line.

“I know we have the ability to do that,” Roots said. “We’ve seen it, both of our losses, Woodbury and Salem, coming back in the game, but it’s all about putting ourselves in the hole. We’ve got to stop putting ourselves in the hole. If we weren’t in that hole, we wouldn’t have to come back.”

CHEROKEE 65, WOODSTOWN 50
CHEROKEE (6-1): Louis Galasso 9 2-2 26, John Comito 3 3-4 10, Tony Fuscia 3 3-4 12, Tom Cieslik 4 2-2 11, Chris Walters 2 0-0 4, Jeremiah Shields 1 0-0 2, Josh Shields 0 0-0 0. Totals 22 10-12 65.
WOODSTOWN (5-3): Eli Caesar 9 4-5 28, Blake Bialecki 3 3-3 10, Alejandro Vazquez 3 0-0 8, Josh King 0 0-0 0, Andrew White 2 0-1 4, Lucas Fulmer 0 0-0 0, Connor Miller 0 0-0 0. Totals 17 7-9 50.

Cherokee	13	11	19	22-	65
Woodstown	12	5	19	14-	50

WEST DEPTFORD 50, SALEM TECH 27
SALEM TECH (1-3): Chase Pompper 1 2-2 4, Brody Kroll 2 0-2 4, Aiden Bobo 2 1-3 5, Keidyn Robinson 1 1-3 3, Larry Pompper 3 0-0 9, Sterling Lewis 1 0-0 2. Totals 10 4-10 27.
WEST DEPTFORD (2-5): Curtis Pearson 2 1-2 5, Kyle Eason 3 4-6 10, Aaron Benson 1 0-0 2, Carter Watson 5 0-0 11, Anthony Martello 2 2-2 7, Michael Garcia 1 2-3 4, Cameron Hoang 0 0-0 0, Michael Joseph 1 1-4 3, Zamir Davis 0 0-0 0, Talib Bogar 1 0-2 2, Cole Stanish 3 0-1 6. Totals 19 10-20 50.

Salem Tech	5	6	10	6-	27
West Deptford	11	7	14	18-	50

MAPLE SHADE 47, PENNSVILLE 38

Maple Shade (2-8)	11	8	15	3	10-	47
Pennsville (1-6)	9	8	4	16	1-	38

Girls game
A tough lesson

WOODSTOWN – The scoreboard showed a 22-point loss to an undefeated opponent every bit as good as their record indicated. But Woodstown girls coach Matt Smart believes in the long run the Wolverines will have done far better for themselves playing this game than beating an easier opponent by the same margin or more.

The Wolverines took one on the chin Saturday, losing to undefeated Cinnaminson 56-34, but in the immediate analysis of a game otherwise better left alone, Smart did find some positives for his team to take away that will serve them well down the road.

“That’s kind of been our theory all year,” Smart said. “We’ll play whoever, wherever, whenever. We always want to challenge the girls and we always want to try to continue to get better and better and better.

“Each game I’ve had to say let’s focus on us, let’s focus on us getting better. I don’t care what the scoreboard says, if we’re up by 30, if we’re down by 30, whatever, we just want to continue to focus on us getting better as a team and as a unit. The scoreboard doesn’t reflect a win today, but I think we truly got a lot better today.”

Smart said there were “a lot of things” the Wolverines did well. Among them were being more patient with the ball than they’ve been in past games, making smart decisions with the ball, looking for open players, spreading out the floor and keeping up their defensive intensity.

The Wolverines (4-3) actually came out of the first quarter with a lead. It was a one-point game early in the second quarter before the Pirates (7-0) started pulling away. The visitors used a 7-0 run to establish control, then ended the half with another seven-point run to take a 14-point halftime lead.

Gabby Harvey had eight of her 16 points in the second quarter and Shiloh Moore had seven of her game-high 17 there. Harvey hit her four 3-pointers across the second and third quarters. 

The Wolverines focused on getting the ball inside and didn’t have a 3-pointer in the game. Kyia Leyman was their leading scorer with 14 points.

CINNAMINSON 56, WOODSTOWN 34
CINNAMINSON (7-0): Shiloh Moore 7 3-5 17, Norah Quinn 2 0-4 4, Mia Pacetti 2 0-0 5, Gabby Harvey 6 0-0 16, Mia Szlenderowicz 2 1-2 5, Stevie Ormsby 1 0-0 2, Emily Reynolds 1 2-2 4, Chloe Fudala 1 1-2 3, Julia Latevnas 0 0-0 0, Jaci Cichonoski 0 0-0 0, Ella Repsher 0 0-0 0, Tyler Davis 0 0-0 0. Totals 22 7-15 56.
WOODSTOWN (4-3): Kyia Leyman 7 0-0 14, Kendall Young 4 0-2 8, Emma Perry 2 0-0 4, Talia Guardascione 1 2-2 4, Lauren Hengel 2 0-0 4, Mia Waterman 0 0-0 0, Ava White 0 0-0 0, Kaylin Kennedy 0 0-0 0, Gina Murray 0 0-0 0, Jaelyn McDonald 0 0-0 0, Autumn Paleschic 0 0-0 0. Totals 16 2-4 34.

Cinnaminson	10	24	14	8-	56
Woodstown	12	8	8	6-	34

1000-Point Watch

PLAYER	TODAY	TOTAL
Blake Bialecki, Woodstown	10 vs. Cherokee	824
Tymear Lecator, Salem	19 vs. St. Joseph	732
Taylor Bass, Pennsville	DNP	992