Rams roll on

Salem shuts down Delaware visitors’ dynamic duo, wins eighth straight; includes results and details from the action on Wednesday night’s Salem County sports schedule

BOYS BASKETBALL
Salem 74, DuPont (Del.) 62
Penns Grove 65, Pennsville 17
Pitman 54, Salem Tech 31
Woodstown 67, Schalick 27
GIRLS BASKETBALL
Pennsville 55, Penns Grove 46
Woodstown 52, Schalick 27
Salem Tech at Pitman

By Al Muskewitz
Riverview Sports News

SALEM — The Salem Rams didn’t know a whole lot about the A.I. duPont team they brought across the bridge to play Wednesday night, but they did know which Tigers to pay attention to.

The short film session the Rams had in the run up to the game made it pretty clear they had to keep an eye on Amir Robinson and Gi’lyl Conrad. Both were averaging nearly 20 points a game, but Xavier McGriff and Neziah Spence kept them both well below that on their way to a 74-62 border war win.

It was the Rams’ eighth win in a row, their longest winning streak since a 15-gamer in 2021-22.

“We definitely knew they were their guys,” said Spence, who drew the assignment on Conrad. “We watched a little bit of film so we knew what they could do. We knew if we took them away it would make it difficult for them to score.”

As it turned out, Robertson had 15 points and Conrad was held to 11. Seven of Robertson’s points came from the free throw line. Nine of Conrad’s came from outside the 3-point arc.

“They did a great job,” Deshaan Williams said of his teammates’ defensive effort.

Rams coach Anthony Farmer called the defensive showing “one of the better efforts we’ve had putting it all together.”

“We’re trying to put it together for four quarters regardless of what we’re in,” Farmer said. “We’re just trying to be smart about what we’re doing and have an identity and understand the game plan and execute the game plan. We’re getting close.”

In the second quarter they came out in tough man-to-man defense, generally holding the Tigers to one shot, and outscoring them 17-9 to take a 31-22 halftime lead.

Spence showed out at the start of the third quarter. He opened the half with two straight steals, one he got to Williams for a bucket and the other he took for a three-point play. He almost got a third the next time down the court, but got the rebound on the Tigers’ missed shot and fed Williams for another layup to give the Rams their biggest lead.

“We knew what we had to do,” Spence said. “We had to stretch the lead. The second half I came out energetic and feel like I set the tone and got it popping.”

Spence was good on the offensive end, too, going for a game-high 21 points. Tymear Lecator had 19 and Deshaan Williams had his fourth double-double of the season (14 points, 10 rebounds).

But the Tigers (7-2) wouldn’t go away. The 22nd-ranked team in Delaware (MaxPreps) chipped away the rest of the quarter and got back within 3. It was still a three-point game early in the fourth quarter when the Rams (10-1) went on an 11-2 run that expanded to 17-5 to move back comfortably ahead.

Farmer called it being resilient and making adjustments. In trying to keep up, the Tigers had four players foul out.

Rams senior Fatah Paige was most familiar with the Tigers. He played them one time last year when he was at McKean (Del.) High School and said they were “developed way more” than the team he beat handily last year.

Paige is progressing, too. He had seven points, four rebounds and an assist in his fourth game with the Rams since satisfying his transfer requirements. It came on the heels of a massive double-double against Clayton.

“I feel like I was just locked in,” he said of his big game. “I’m still getting warmed up to everything. I feel like as the games go on I’ll get more productive.”

SALEM 74, DUPONT 62
DUPONT (7-2): Tevin Cannon 2 5-6, Tko Jones 3 2-2 9, Amir Robertson 4 7-7 15, Gilyl Conrad 4 0-0 11, Tyaire Herring 1 3-4 5, Arcevis Flowers 0 0-0 0, JaMael Bishop 0 0-0 0, Kaisan Hale 6 0-2 12. Totals 20 17-21 62.
SALEM (10-1): Xavier McGriff 1 4-6 7, Neziah Spence 4 11-13 21, Tymear Lecator 6 6-10 19, Fatah Paige 2 3-4 7, Kyaire Parsons 0 0-0 0, Deshaan Williams 5 4-4 14, BJ Robbins 1 2-2 4, Cole Sayers 0 0-0 0, Marshall Stephens 1 0-0 2. Totals 20 30-39 74.

DuPont	13	9	24	16-	62
Salem	14	17	18	25-	74

PENNS GROVE 64, PENNSVILLE 17: The Red Devils came out smoking, outscoring Pennsville 34-4 in the first quarter. Ten players scored for them in the game, led by Will Roy’s 16 and Carson Pearsall’s 11.

PENNSVILLE (1-11): Jake Layfield 2-0-5, Jacob Farina 1-0-3, Gavin Spears 1-3-5, Aidan Clark 2-0-4. Only players reported. Totals 6-3-17.
PENNS GROVE (7-4): Zane Thomas 3-0-6, Roman Gipson 3-1-7, Will Roy 7-0-16, Mishawn Bradley 1-0-2, Geonni Conrad 1-3-5, Eli Pearsall 0-0-0, Carson Pearsall 5-1-11, Luis Colon 2-2-6, Jeremy Costacamps 2-2-6, Jerry Wooten 1-0-3, Ahkeen Edwards 0-0-0, Messiah Allah 1-0-2. Totals 26-9-64.

Pennsville	4	3	8	2-	17
Penns Grove	34	12	9	9-	64

WOODSTOWN 67, SCHALICK 25: The Wolverines got back on the winning track after losing the battle for the Diamond Division lead in its previous game, pulling away with a big second quarter and closing it out by allowing only one point in the fourth.

Josh King led the Wolverines with a career-high 17 points. He had double-doubles in each of their first two games, but hadn’t scored in double figures single. He had scored only 16 points in his previous four games combined.

SCHALICK (5-5): Orion Baldwin 0 1-4 1, Julian Dickerson 1 1-2 3, Kade Macom 3 0-0 6, Sherrod Jones 2 1-2 5, Dylan Sheehan 4 0-0 8, Cooper Willoughby 1 0-2 2, Jacob Schalick 0 0-0 0, Will Sieminski 0 0-0 0. Totals 11 3-10 25.
WOODSTOWN (8-4): Elijah Caesar 1 0-0 3, Jalen Markward 0 0-0 0, Andrew White 6 0-1 13, Trey Markward 1 0-0 3, Lucas Fulmer 1 0-0 3, Bryce Ayars 0 0-0 0, Blake Bialecki 3 0-0 8, Frank Hoerst 3 0-0 6, Connor Miller 2 0-0 5, Alejandro Vazquez 1 1-2 3, Josh King 8 1-2 17, John Hood-McGinley 2 0-0 6. Totals 28 2-5 67.

Schalick	6	6	12	1-	25
Woodstown	10	18	24	15-	67

PITMAN 54, SALEM TECH 31: Joey Zubert made his bones keeping shots out of Pitman’s net on the soccer pitch and he doesn’t do a bad job of it on the basketball floor, either. Zubert blocked a pair of shots to go with his 12 points, five rebounds, five assists and three steals. He’s been credited with six blocks this season. Parker DeChristopher led all scorers with 17 points.

PITMAN (6-7): Lucas Razze 1 0-0 3, Parker DeChristopher 5 5-8 17, Jake Bowen-Ashwin 3 0-0 6, Joey Zubert 4 4-6 12, Jay Craig 2 1-4 5, Nolan Russell 1 0-0 3, Keaton Libby 0 0-0 0, Michael Aubrey 0 0-0 0, Liam Etter 0 0-0 0. Totals 18 13-22 54.
SALEM TECH (1-8): Chase Pompper 2 1-6 5, Ayden Myers 4 0-0 9, Aiden Bobo 2 1-3 6, Luke Kroll 2 0-0 6, Raphael Busch 2 0-0 4, Micah Cavanaugh 0 1-2 1. Totals 12 3-11 31.

Pitman	14	17	15	8-	54
Salem Tech	6	6	6	13-	31

1000-Point Watch

PLAYER	TODAY	TOTAL
Blake Bialecki, Woodstown	8 vs. Schalick	872
Tymear Lecator, Salem	18 vs. DuPont (Del.)	774

Girls games

PENNSVILLE 55, PENNS GROVE 46: Taylor Bass and Addie Johnston had 23 and 18 points, respectively, picking up for injured 1,000-point scorer Marley Wood and the Eagles held off their rivals despite two near career-highs by Penns Grove’s JaNiyah Cummings and Keziah Patterson.

The Red Devils enjoyed their season-high in points. Cummings had her season high, 19 points. Patterson had her second 20-point game of the season (20). Cummings had 14 in the second half.

Bass (15) and Johnston combined for 28 of the Eagles’ 33 first-half points in a 33-21 halftime lead. .

PENNS GROVE (1-10): Keziah Patterson 9 0-0 20, JaNiyah Cummings 8 2-5 19, Mikayla Washington 2 0-2 4, Yeichelyn Rodriguez 0 0-0 0, NyAsia Numan 1 0-0 2, Armahni Blackston 0 0-0 0, Domari Torres 0 0-0 0. Totals 20 2-7 46.
PENNSVILLE (7-3): Taylor Bass 10 1-2 23, Izzy Saulin 0 0-0 0, Addie Johnston 7 1-1 18, Jaiden Wilson 3 3-5 9, Kylie Harris 0 0-2 0, Jaida Burns 2 1-2 5. Totals 22 6-12 55.

Penns Grove	11	10	13	12-	46
Pennsville	20	13	10	12-	55

Woodstown	12	14	14	12-	52
Schalick	7	1	12	7-	27