Salem CC returns to the court; No. 1 men put away No. 7 Union in biggest challenge to their top billing to date; cold fourth-quarter shooting ruins women’s upset bid of No. 5 Monroe-Bronx
MENS BASKETBALL
Salem CC 74, Union 68
WOMEN’S BASKETBALL
Monroe-Bronx 51, Salem 46
By Al Muskewitz
Riverview Sports News
CARNEYS POINT – It’s been 18 days since the Salem CC men’s basketball team last played a game and when the Mighty Oaks returned to the floor Tuesday it had to come against the biggest threat to their undefeated record and No. 1 ranking this season.
It’s a new calendar year and the schedule will get infinitely harder from here on out, but the Mighty Oaks got through the first one all right, putting down No. 7 Union College of New Jersey, 74-68.
It’s been so long since this team of mostly first-year college players have played it literally felt like the first time. They had to get used to being back on the floor together and the flow and rhythm of the game again, but they eventually did — just like they’ve always done this season.
“We just had to adjust to the game,” guard Saaid Lee said. “Throughout the game I was just thinking back to our first game of the season. This is exactly like that. You just had to adjust and just get the jitters out. First game of the semester.
“It took a while (to get adjusted), I’m not gonna lie. But once it clicked, it clicked. We were cool.”
Just like in the opener at Atlantic Cape the Mighty Oaks (17-0) fell behind at the outset, and just like in the opener they came to life in the second half to win.
They trailed the team they beat in the third round of last year’s national tournament by 13 in the first half and battled back to within four at halftime. They fell back by nine at the start of the second half, then found their game and did what they’ve always done this season to get a lead.
The game turned for them during a crazy 22-second stretch midway through the half. It started with Zyaire Gibson blocking a shot and Nasseem Wright converting it into a three-point play at the other end to give them the lead for the first time since 5-1 with 8:52 to play. They never lost it.
The next trip Lee picked Kanye Brown’s pocket at midcourt and was fouled driving to the basket. He hit both free throws to make it 52-48.
The Mighty Oaks nearly forced a turnover on the next possession. On the ensuing inbounds play, Idris Rines knocked a ball that appeared to be kicked free and was fouled in the scramble. It was Union guard Tareak Williams’ fifth foul, which set off Owls coach Devon Stansbury and earned him a technical.
Lee made one of the two tech shots and Rines hit both of his free throws. The Mighty Oaks who had trailed by one with nine minutes left were now up seven with 8:30 left.
“I just remember before it I huddled my team and told them we get three stops in a row and the game was ours,” Lee said. “And that’s exactly what we did.”
“We knew we were going to go on a run soon,” Wright said. “Going into the half their two best players didn’t come out of the game so we knew they were tired. Once we put a little more pressure on their guards and made them get out and made the other people score I felt like that’s when the dominoes would start falling.”
They still had some work to do, however. The Owls made it 59-57 with 5:26 to play, then Jarrell Little and Rines wrapped 3-pointers around a UCNJ free throw and the Mighty Oaks were back up seven with 3:27 to go.
“It’s been that way all year for us,” Mighty Oaks coach Mike Green said. “A couple games we were down and had to fight back. This wasn’t any different. This is one of the better teams. We knew it was going to be a war coming in.
“That’s what we do. If we’re behind ,we do what we do, we get back to where we need to be and we’re really good with the lead, really good with the lead. But we showed them this year we can play from behind and grind the game out.”
One of the things the Mighty Oaks did do to maintain the lead was make their free throws. In the six minutes after Wright’s go-ahead three-point play, they were 12-of-13 from the line. They were 19-of-21 in the half and 21-of-29 in the game.
“That’s one thing we’re keying on, even in practice we shoot a lot of free throws,” Wright said. “And at game speed as well. We’ll be running up and down at practice and then we’ll shoot free throws and if we miss we’ve got to run again. So we condition for those late-game moments. Two, three minutes left in the game, we need the free throws, we’re all tired, but we’re able to go to the line and knock them down.”
The Mighty Oaks placed five scorers in double figures. Wright bounced back from a tough first half to score a team-high 16 points. Rines had 13 (11 in the second half), Little 12, and Lee and Gibson 11 apiece. Union’s Jake Zawacki led all scorers with 24 points.
Just like his team, it took Wright a little while to get back in the swing of things. He had four points and four turnovers in the first half, but after the break he hit 3-of-4 shots, got to the foul line more, scored 12 points and had only one turnover.
“Once I realized how physical it was, going into the second half I knew what I had to do coming out,” Wright said. “Going into the half my coaches were telling me not to bail them out, not to get caught up in all that other stuff, just play my own game and coming out the second half that’s what I did.”
SALEM CC 74, UNION 68
SALEM CC (17-0): Jarrell Little 3-6 5-9 12, Saaid Lee 3-7 5-6 11, Zyaire Gibson 4-10 0-0 11, Nasseem Wright 5-11 6-9 16, Stefan Phillips 1-2 1-1 3, Jahseir Sayles 0-1 0-0 0, Qua Smith 1-2 0-0 2, Nayeem Johnson 3-10 0-0 6, Idris Rines 4-10 4-4 13. Totals 24-59 21-29 74.
UNION (11-3): Tareak Williams 1-6 1-2 3, Craig West 1-3 0-0 2, Nicolas Acosta 8-22 3-5 19, Kanye Brown 0-1 0-0 0, Jeremiah Saint Jean 2-10 1-2 5, Anthony Hicks 1-7 2-5 4, Aljanai Best 2-4 0-0 4, Nasir Calloway 3-6 0-0 7, Jake Zawacki 9-18 2-2 24. Totals 27-77 9-16 68.
| Salem CC | 29 | 45– | 74 |
| Union | 33 | 35– | 68 |
3-point goals: Salem CC 5-18 (Little 1-2, Lee 0-1, Gibson 3-7, Wright 0-2, Johnson 0-1, Rines 1-5); UCNJ 5-15 (Williams 0-1, West 0-1, Hicks 0-2, Best 0-1, Calloway 1-1, Zawacki 4-9). Rebounds: Salem CC 40 (Lee 7, Little 6, Wright 6); UCNJ 45 (Acosta 14, Saint Jean 12). Technical fouls: Saint Jean, Union coach Stansbury, Rines, Salem CC coach Green. Fouled out: Williams, Saint Jean. Total fouls: Salem CC 24, UCNJ 17.
Region XIX Standings
| DIVISION III | R19 | ALL | GSAC |
| SALEM CC (1) | 11-0 | 17-0 | 11-0 |
| Northampton (5) | 8-0 | 13-1 | |
| Union (7) | 8-2 | 11-3 | 8-2 |
| Ocean | 8-2 | 8-4 | 5-3 |
| Montgomery (9) | 4-1 | 7-2 | |
| Brookdale | 11-3 | 11-5 | 7-3 |
| Camden | 6-3 | 9-5 | 6-4 |
| RCSJ-Cumberland | 6-4 | 6-7 | 5-5 |
| Thaddeus Stevens | 3-4 | 6-7 | |
| Bergen | 6-8 | 7-9 | 2-6 |
| Atlantic Cape | 4-6 | 5-7 | 3-6 |
| RCSJ-Gloucester | 4-10 | 5-11 | 1-6 |
| Sussex | 3-9 | 5-11 | 3-8 |
| Passaic | 3-11 | 3-12 | 3-8 |
| Delaware County | 2-8 | 3-12 | |
| Harrisburg Area | 1-5 | 2-10 | |
| Luzerne | 1-6 | 4-11 | |
| Philadelphia | 1-8 | 6-8 |
Number in parenthesis is JUCO Division III national ranking
TUESDAY’S GAMES
Salem CC 74, Union 68
Miseracordia JV 83, Luzerne 76
Raritan Valley 74, Manhattan CC 69
Orange CC at Middlesex
Howard CC 82, Delaware Tech 59
WEDNESDAY’S GAME
Harrisburg Area at Chesapeake
THURSDAY’S GAME
Union at Sussex
Harcum at CCBC Dundalk
Thaddeus Stevens at Miseracordia JV
Bergen at Ocean
Passaic at Atlantic Cape
FRIDAY’S GAME
Penn State DuBois at Lackawanna
SATURDAY’S GAMES
Salem CC at RCSJ-Gloucester
Harrisburg Area at Montgomery
Ocean at Thaddeus Stevens
Raritan Valley at Chesapeake
Delaware at Luzerne
Union at Atlantic Cape
Montgomery (Md.) at Mercer
Bergen at RCSJ-Cumberland
Northampton at Sussex
Morris at Delaware Tech
Camden at Essex
Kingsborough at Middlesex
Women ‘played well, but …’
CARNEYS POINT – The Salem CC women gave the fifth-ranked team in Division III all it could handle, but they went cold from the floor in the fourth quarter and fell to Monroe-Bronx 51-46.
The Mighty Oaks (2-9) made just one of 19 shots in the fourth quarter. They led 46-45 with 6:45 to play, then didn’t score again. The Express (14-1) didn’t shoot it great either in the fourth quarter, but found the bucket enough to earn their seventh straight victory.
“I thought we did what we were supposed to do on defense, but when we needed a basket we just didn’t get it,” Salem coach Brian Marsh said. “The players played hard.”
The cold fourth quarter dropped the Mighty Oaks to 32 percent shooting for the game (19-for-60). They also were just 5-of-15 from the free throw line. The Express shot an even worse percentage (18-for-66), but made six 3-pointers and nine free throws.
Monroe led early on by 10, but the game was close throughout. There were six lead changes and nine ties.
The teams fought to a 13-13 tie in the first quarter with Salem’s Justine Cardona beating the buzzer with a layup to get it even. It was a two-point game at halftime and a one-point game going into the fourth quarter.
It was Cardona’s two free throws that gave the Mighty Oaks the lead in the fourth quarter.
Cardona led the Mighty Oaks with a game-high 17 points and 10 rebounds off the bench. Tanijya Shaw had 10 points and Dani Gustin had eight points and eight rebounds.
“I told the players I’m getting tired of ‘we played well but…’ games,” Marsh said. “We’ve got to finish games and we’ve got to win games. We’ve shown people, especially our last four games, what we’re doing. I think this is the team that we are and they’re starting to come together.”
MONROE-BRONX 51, SALEM CC 46
MONROE-BRONX (14-1) – Jaeda Kelly 0-0 0-0 0, Beverly Williams 4-20 3-8 13, Aniyah McLamb 6-12 2-4 14, Salimah Williams 5-19 2-4 15, D Stephenson 0-2 0-0 0, Jhency Pabon 0-0 0-0 0, Lea Tavarez 1-7 0-0 3, Tyra Williams 0-1 0-0 0, Jazmyne Rios 2-5 2-4 6, Aviah Richards 0-0 0-0 0, Sade Gibbs 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 18-66 9-20 51.
SALEM CC (2-9) – RayNescia King 1-9 0-2 2, Tanijya Shaw 5-17 0-0 10, Dani Gustin 4-6 0-4 8, Paula Wilson 2-4 0-0 6, Jayda Hunter 0-6 1-2 1, Justine Cardona 6-15 4-7 17, Kasey Oliver 1-3 0-0 2. Totals 19-60 5-15 46.
| Monroe-Bronx | 13 | 20 | 10 | 8- | 51 |
| Salem CC | 13 | 18 | 11 | 4- | 46 |
3-point goals: Monroe 6-36 (B. Williams 2-11, S. Williams 3-14, Tavarez 1-7, T. Williams 0-1, Rios 0-3); Salem CC 3-12 (King 0-3, Shaw 0-1, Wilson 2-4, Hunter 0-1, Cardona 1-3). Rebounds: Monroe 42 (T. Williams 8, Rios 8); Salem CC 43 (Cardona 10, King 9, Gustin 8). Technical fouls: Monroe coach Ling, Salem CC bench. Total fouls: Monroe 15, Salem CC 18.
Region XIX Women’s Standings
| DIVISION II | R19 | ALL | GSAC |
| Harcum (5) | 6-0 | 14-1 | |
| Union (7) | 8-1 | 14-1 | 6-0 |
| Mercer (18) | 6-2 | 10-3 | 3-1 |
| Essex | 6-3 | 9-4 | 4-2 |
| Delaware Tech | 3-4 | 4-11 | |
| Raritan Valley | 3-5 | 6-8 | 3-3 |
| Lackawanna | 2-6 | 2-9 | |
| SALEM CC | 1-5 | 2-9 | 0-3 |
| Middlesex | 1-6 | 6-12 | 0-4 |
| Morris | 0-4 | 0-4 | 0-3 |
Number in parenthesis is JUCO Division II national ranking
TUESDAY’S GAMES
Monroe-Bronx 51, Salem CC 46
Howard CC 72, Delaware Tech 67
Sussex 77, RCSJ-Cumberland 50
Montgomery at Bergen
Middlesex 92, Orange CC 43
Union at Monroe
THURSDAY’S GAMES
RCSJ-Cumberland at RCSJ-Gloucester
Passaic at Atlantic Cape
Bergen at Ocean
Sussex at Delaware County
SATURDAY’S GAMES
Salem at RCSJ-Gloucester
Bergen at RCSJ-Cumberland
Morris at Delaware Tech
Northampton at Sussex
Camden at Essex
Montgomery (Md.) at Mercer
Cecil at Middlesex
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