No. 1 Salem CC puts up 124 points, most in the Mike Green Era, 77 in second half, en route to rout of Passaic
By Al Muskewitz
Riverview Sports News
CARNEYS POINT – Nasseem Wright had one eye on the scoreboard and one eye on history.
In a season where this year’s Salem CC basketball team has been checking off all kinds of boxes in an effort to gain an identity of its own, Saturday was the historical high point.
As if they were ever in it to begin with, this Mighty Oaks team may have finally stepped out of the shadow of last year’s historic group, scoring the most points since they revived the program – and likely all-time – in a 124-70 pounding of undermanned Passaic.
It’s the 14th time they have hit 100 in Mike Green’s 73 games as head coach and the eighth time this year — twice as many as last season in 34 games. Their 94.8 ppg scoring average ranks fourth in Division III. They had 100 Saturday with 7:41 to play.
Their previous single-game high in the Green Era was 119 against RCSJ-Cumberland on Jan. 14, 2025.
“It’s a new group of guys,” Wright said. “The majority of us are freshmen. We’ve already been making history all year so we just want to keep checking those boxes off the list.
“Last year’s team scored 119 points. Once we got into the second half and saw we had like 79 points and there was like nine or 10 minutes left, I’m telling the guys we’ve got a chance to do this, so let’s come out and keep the same energy, respect our opponent and keep playing hard.
“I pay a lot of attention to last year’s team. They set the bar high by winning the regionals and going to the nationals, but I don’t think they won the conference. Coming into the season I wanted to key in on all of those things that they didn’t accomplish and where they went wrong at and then work from there. That’s kind of been the motivation for me personally for this team this year.”
Green understood where his flashy freshman from Philly was coming from.“Nasseem wanted to obliterate everything that last year’s team did, so he had that fire in him,” Green said. “He respects that last year’s team, but he’s just got that fire to him. I don’t want to say that’s what he’s chasing, but he’s kind of chasing it. That’s type of kid he is. He respects those guys, but he wants his team to be on top.”
The Mighty Oaks (21-0) have been on top of the JUCO Division III world since the Week 6 poll Dec. 15 and it doesn’t look like they’re slowing down any time soon. They may have started Saturday’s noon start slow coming off the late night that was Thursday’s win at No. 5 Northampton, but once they kicked it into gear the only thing you could say was wow.
They led 47-37 at halftime, then erupted for 77 points in the second half. In case you glanced past that detail, it’s more points in one half than the Panthers scored the entire game.
The Mighty Oaks shot 68 percent from the field in the second half (32-of-47) and hit 7 of 8 from 3-point range. They collected 20 of their record 33 assists in the half. Over the last 27 minutes of the game they were 46-of-66 from the floor.
“We put together 11 guys playing like we need them to play,” Green said. “Usually we go up and we have fall off because guys think it’s garbage time (with a big lead). This time we didn’t have no fall off. Zero fall off.”
The finish was a huge contrast to the way they started, but, then, this has always been a second half team. There were seven lead changes and three ties in the first 13 minutes until Zyaire Gibson’s 3-pointer with 7:00 left in the half gave the Mighty Oaks the lead for good.
They hit four of their first 10 shots to grab an early 9-2 lead, but then missed nine straight and 12 of their next 15 and the Panthers (3-16) took a four-point lead with 8:17 left in the half. The Mighty Oaks then made five shots in a row and never trailed again.
Everybody contributed. Salem put six scorers in double figures. Jarrell Little had a game-high 23 points, eight rebounds and eight assists. Wright had 17 points, seven rebounds, four assists, five steals and two blocks. Gibson had 15 points with four 3-pointers. Saaid Lee had 12 points and 10 assists.
The bench scored 50 points. Nayeem Johnson had 13 points and eight rebounds in 12 minutes (all in the second half) and Jaiayre Wright had 12 points and six boards in 15 minutes. Three other non-starters had at least eight points. Nobody who scored had less than seven.
“The second half, remember we always talk about that second unit, they’re just as strong as most teams in our league, and they came out and played … like they were supposed to play, so that was a big boost for us,” Green said.
SALEM CC 124, PASSAIC 70
PASSAIC (3-16): Tyler Williams 1-3 0-0 3, Josiah Etienne 8-20 0-0 19, Ajuwan Tiggs 8-21 4-4 20, Jaquis Davis 3-17 8-13 15, Aidan Secka 0-1 0-0 0, Diego Munoz 0-2 0-0 0, Joshua Renta 5-15 1-1 13. Totals 25-79 13-18 70.
SALEM CC (21-0): Jarrell Little 9-14 0-1 23, Saaid Lee 6-10 0-0 12, Zyaire Gibson 4-9 3-3 15, Nasseem Wright 8-14 1-2 17, Stefan Phillips 3-6 1-1 7, Jahseir Sayles 4-6 0-0 9, Jaiayre Wright 6-10 0-0 12, Qua Smith 4-6 0-0 8, Nayeem Johnson 5-9 2-2 13, Idris Rines 3-7 1-2 8, Michael Goodwin 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 52-91 8-11 124.
| Passaic | 34 | 36- | 70 |
| Salem | 47 | 77- | 124 |
Region XIX Standings
| DIVISION III | R19 | ALL | GSAC |
| SALEM CC (1) | 8-0 | 21-0 | 15-0 |
| Union (8) | 11-1 | 15-3 | 11-2 |
| Northampton (5) | 9-1 | 15-2 | |
| Brookdale | 13-3 | 13-6 | 8-4 |
| Montgomery (9) | 7-2 | 10-3 | |
| Camden | 7-2 | 10-6 | 6-5 |
| Ocean | 9-3 | 11-6 | 7-4 |
| Bergen | 10-7 | 10-10 | 3-9 |
| Atlantic Cape | 6-6 | 7-9 | 5-7 |
| RCSJ-Cumberland | 6-7 | 7-10 | 6-7 |
| RCSJ-Gloucester | 5-11 | 7-15 | 1-11 |
| Thaddeus Stevens | 3-7 | 6-10 | |
| Sussex | 4-10 | 7-13 | 4-9 |
| Philadelphia | 2-8 | 7-8 | |
| Passaic | 3-14 | 3-16 | 3-11 |
| Delaware County | 2-10 | 3-14 | |
| Harrisburg Area | 1-7 | 2-13 | |
| Luzerne | 1-8 | 4-14 |
Number in parenthesis is JUCO Division III national ranking
SATURDAY’S GAMES
Salem 124, Passaic 70
Union at Thaddeus Stevens
Philadelphia 71, Luzerne 47
RCSJ-Gloucester 99, Delaware County 68
Essex 80, Delaware Tech 74
Montgomery 90, Ocean 86
Allegany (Md.) 89, Harcum 81
Sussex at Camden
Atlantic Cape 75, Brookdale 72
Lackawanna 81, Baltimore City CC 67
Mercer at Ulster
TUESDAY’S GAMES
Passaic at Luzerne
Union at Montgomery
Harcum at Middlesex
Bergen at Atlantic Cape
Camden at Ocean
Lancaster Bible JV at Thaddeus Stevens
Westchester CC at Essex
Sussex at Harrisburg Area
Philadelphia at Northampton
Lackawanna at Morris
THURSDAY’S GAMES
Atlantic Cape at Salem
Monroe at Essex
RCSJ-Cumberland at Bergen
Northampton at Harrisburg Area
Union at Rockland
Ulster at Raritan Valley
Bucks at Delaware County
Ocean at Sussex
Mercer at Morris
Misericordia JV at Thaddeus Stevens
Camden at Brookdale
Delaware Tech at Baltimore City CC
Philadelphia at Montgomery
Orange at Lackawanna
SATURDAY, JAN. 24
Luzerne at Thaddeus Stevens
Union at RCSJ-Cumberland
Northampton at Monroe-Bronx
Sussex at Philadelphia
Mercer at Orange
Harrisburg Area at Delaware County
Delaware Tech at Middlesex
Monroe at Harcum
Montgomery at Passaic
Camden at Atlantic Cape
Raritan Valley at Westchester
Morris at Essex
SATURDAY’S WOMEN’S GAMES
Middlesex at Salem CC, ppd.
Sussex at Camden
Atlantic Cape 58, Brookdale 40
Essex 79, Delaware Tech 64
Montgomery 61, Ocean 44
Lackawanna 67, Baltimore City 28
Northampton 71, Raritan Valley 58
Passaic 71, Philadelphia 50
TUESDAY’S GAMES
Mercer at Salem CC
Sussex at Passaic
Westchester CC at Essex
Philadelphia at Northampton
Bergen at Atlantic Cape
Harcum at Middlesex
Union at Raritan Valley
Lackawanna at Morris
Camden at Ocean
THURSDAY’S GAMES
RCSJ-Gloucester at Salem
Mercer at Morris
Camden at Brookdale
Raritan Valley at Monroe
Delaware Tech at Baltimore City CC
Ocean at Sussex
Philadelphia at Montgomery
RCSJ-Cumberland at Bergen
Orange at Lackawanna
SATURDAY, JAN. 24
Salem at Lackawanna
Camden at Atlantic Cape
Mercer at Orange
Montgomery at Passaic
Sussex at Philadelphia
Delaware Tech at Middlesex
Union at Harcum
Raritan Valley at Westchester
Morris at Essex
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