No. 3 Salem CC getting back to old form, routs HACC; women fall to Delaware Tech
By Al Muskewitz
Riverview Sports News
CARNEYS POINT – Mike Green looked over the box score after another one-sided Salem CC win and saw a lot of what he liked.
The Mighty Oaks had just crushed Harrisburg Area 110-72 Thursday night for its 25th win of the season and the tale of the tape on the table before him was filled with a lot of positive numbers.
Seven scorers in double figures, 14 3-pointers (the most since November), 24 assists, a plus-10 rebound margin, a limited number of turnovers (in the second half). That’s more like it.
“We’re getting back to us,” Green said after collecting the 60th win of his coaching career. “I told them before the game we’re trending down. I feel like we’re trending down. I challenged them. And I’ll challenge them again tomorrow.
“We’re not as scary as we were early on, I don’t believe. We’ve gotta turn this up.”
The Mighty Oaks are 25-1 and ranked third in the country, but truthfully they haven’t been quite the team that was mercilessly dismantling teams on their rise to No. 1. They were winning games, but there just seemed to be something missing. It came to a head when they finally lost a game, and carried on.
They’re not the first elite team to go through a rough patch during what’s developing into a special year. Green was reminded of that earlier in the day.
“I was watching the North Carolina special today,” he said. “I was laying down before the game (and) I could hear the North Carolina special, and it put it all in perspective.
“Those guys, the team with George Lynch that beat (Michigan’s) Fab 5 (for the 1992-93 national championship, the famous Chris Webber no-timeouts game). I watched that. They had a tough time in the ACC when they lost about three or four games, and some of the things those guys were saying put the team back together.
“You winning like that, sometimes you get burned out. Hopefully, it don’t cost us four games, but you’ve got to be at your best. They’re in college, man, they’ve got to be at their best.”
Even this one got off to a slow start. The Mighty Oaks trailed a team with a 5-15 record by nine with nine minutes gone in the game and they trailed the whole first 15 minutes.
The bench played a huge role in bringing them back. The non-starters got them back in the game in the first half, scoring just two points fewer than the starters, grabbing more rebounds and making fewer turnovers.
The bench scored 46 points in the game, shooting 17-for-26 from the field, 5-for-10 from 3-point range, and had 26 of their 46 rebounds.
At one point in the first half, right after Idris Rines finally gave them the lead on a 3-pointer with 4:54 left, Nayeem Johnson had nine straight Salem points that carried them to a 10-point halftime lead. Rines had seven points in the half and provided the Mighty Oaks steady play in the post after Stef Phillips left the game with knee injury after his three-point play six and a half minutes into the half.
“They did their job,” Green said. “A couple guys didn’t do their job early on, we had to bring them out. This ain’t a free opportunity. We don’t owe nobody nothing,. You get what you work for. Those (reserves) got an early opportunity and they did what they’re supposed to and then our guys, the ones who weren’t caught up, caught up.”
Johnson finished with 16 points. Rines had 13 points and seven rebounds. Qua Smith had 10 points and eight rebounds in 21 minutes and Jahseir Sayles had seven points and three boards in 19 minutes.
Among the starters, Nasseem Wright had a team-high 17 points, four rebounds, four assists and four blocked shots. Zyaire Gibson had 14 points (four 3s) and nine rebounds, and Saaid Lee had 14 points and nine assists.
Rines played the most minutes of any Mighty Oaks player in the game – 30. It’s the most he’s played in a game since high school. He finished with 13 points and seven rebounds.
“Me and MG talked yesterday and MG said just keep the energy up when you’re in, just play your minutes.,” Rines said. “I knew coming into Salem it was going to be a commitment going from starting (in high school) to making sacrifices.
“I think everybody makes sacrifices. We all played like 20 out of 32 minutes of high school, then coming here and splitting minutes with guys. I think we are connected with each other and our friendship makes it so we can make sacrifices and makes us a really unselfish team and that really helps us.”
Another thing that helps them is when Jarrell Little scores the ball, which he hasn’t done a lot of lately.
In his last three games the Mighty Oaks’ leading scorer has logged only 23 points on 8-for-28 shooting, 3-for 17 from 3-point range. He took only four shots in the win over Montco and 12 in the last two games.
“It’s not like a slump,” he said. “I feel like it was never gone, I just feel like I didn’t take enough shots.
“When we played Montco I didn’t shoot a lot of shots; it wasn’t me. I feel like the whole game I wasn’t myself. I didn’t shoot the ball at all. Four shots as the leading scorer is crazy and Mike Green got on me about that. It’s the second time this season I shot less shots in a big game.”
He was 4-for-10 from 3-point range against the Hawks, but 6-for-12 overall.
“He’s our leading scorer for a reason,” Green said. “Somewhere along the line he lost that and just started dribbling the ball. He’s better when he’s in attack mode.”
The Salem starters started looking more like themselves in the second half. They original four minus Phillips had 40 of the Mighty Oaks’ 64 points after halftime. Little and Wright had 13 apiece; Little had three 3s.
“As a team we always start off slow and pick it up at halftime,” Little said. “This time one of our coaches came in screaming at us. I feel like we just turned it on.”
SALEM CC 110, HARRISBURG AREA 72
HARRISBURG AREA (5-16): Zhamire Chaplin-Carter 0-1 0-1 0, Eli Vega 2-6 5-6 10, Jaiden Wiley 3-15 1-2 9, William Byrd 6-10 4-6 17, John McNeil 6-22 7-10 21, Dustin Littles 1-4 0-0 3, Ziveon Kyle 2-7 2-2 6, Kaden Folk 2-8 2-2 6, Duane Woodson 0-1 0-0 0, Ryan Floyd 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 22-74 21-29 72.
SALEM CC (25-1): Jarrell Little 6-12 0-0 16, Saaid Lee 6-10 2-2 14, Zyaire Gibson 5-13 0-0 14, Nasseem Wright 7-10 2-4 17, Stefan Phillips 1-3 1-1 3, Jahseir Sayles 2-6 2-2 7, Qua Smith 4-5 2-2 10, Nayeem Johnson 6-8 3-3 16, Idris Rines 5-6 0-0 13, Mike Goodwin 0-1 0-1 0. Totals 42-74 12-15 110.
| Harrisburg Area | 36 | 36- | 72 |
| Salem CC | 46 | 64- | 110 |
Region XIX Standings
| DIVISION III | R19 | ALL | GSAC |
| SALEM CC (3) | 12-1 | 25-1 | 18-1 |
| Northampton (10) | 13-2 | 21-3 | |
| Brookdale (RV) | 13-3 | 17-7 | 12-4 |
| Union (9) | 12-3 | 19-6 | 10-2 |
| Montgomery (8) | 11-3 | 15-4 | |
| Camden | 10-3 | 15-9 | 10-7 |
| Bergen | 10-6 | 13-11 | 13-10 |
| Ocean | 8-6 | 13-10 | 9-8 |
| Atlantic Cape | 8-6 | 12-11 | 9-8 |
| RCSJ-Cumberland | 5-8 | 8-15 | 6-11 |
| RCSJ-Gloucester | 5-10 | 8-18 | 1-14 |
| Philadelphia | 4-9 | 11-10 | |
| Thaddeus Stevens | 4-9 | 9-12 | |
| Harrisburg Area | 4-10 | 5-16 | |
| Passaic | 3-13 | 4-20 | 3-14 |
| Sussex | 2-10 | 7-17 | 4-11 |
| Delaware County | 2-13 | 4-19 | |
| Luzerne | 1-12 | 4-19 |
Number in parenthesis is JUCO Division III national ranking
THURSDAY’S GAMES
Salem CC 110, Harrisburg Area 72
Compass Prep at Morris
Montgomery 97, Passaic 75
Essex at Monroe
RCSJ-Gloucester 79, Camden 76
Delaware County 75, RCSJ-Cumberland 72
Atlantic Cape 91, Ocean 82
Rockland 89, Lackawanna 86
Mercer 77, Middlesex 69
Northampton 73, Brookdale 67
SATURDAY’S GAMES
Philadelphia at Salem CC
Union at Camden
Bergen at Montgomery
Brookdale at Luzerne
Delaware County at Sussex
Delaware Tech at Morris
Ocean at RCSJ-Cumberland
Essex at Orange County
Mercer at Raritan Valley
RCSJ-Gloucester at Passaic
Penns State LV at Thaddeus Stevens
Lackawanna at Harcum
Northampton at Atlantic Cape
Westchester at Middlesex
Women can’t shake slide
CARNEYS POINT — The Salem women lost their fourth in a row in a winnable game that came down to too many turnovers and too many fouls.
The Mighty Oaks were charged with 32 turnovers off which Delaware Tech scored 26 points. They were hit with 26 fouls, including a pair of technicals. Del Tech was 24-of-41 from the free throw line.
Salem recovered from a cold start to tie the game at 30 with 5:22 left in the third quarter. But Del Tech (8-15) scored the next nine points and never lost the lead again. The Mighty Oaks got within four several times, but couldn’t get closer.
TJ Shaw led Salem (3-16) with 16 points and 12 rebounds. Paula Wilson had 11 points and three of their four 3-pointers. Dani Gustin had 10 points and 14 rebounds off the bench.
Del Tech’s Kai Burnett led all scorers with 30 points. She was 10-of-24 from the field, 10-of-13 from the free throw line.
DELAWARE TECH 65, SALEM CC 56
DELAWARE TECH (8-15): Bria Harker-Brown 2-11 2-4 6, Kai Burnette 10-24 10-13 30, Laila Jacobs 1-3 0-0 2, Talaney Pierce 4-15 4-8 12, Maddie August 1-8 0-0 2, Sabrina Washington 0-1 0-0 0, Aaliyah Smith 2-8 6-14 11, Ciara Whittle 0-3 2-2 2. Totals 20-73 24-41 65.
SALEM CC (3-16): RayNescia King 0-7 1-2 1, TJ Shaw 3-19 10-12 16, Kasey Oliver 3-9 2-2 8, Paula Wilson 4-13 0-0 11, Jayda Hunter 1-5 1-2 3, Justine Cardona 3-7 0-0 7, Dani Gustin 2-4 6-8 10. Totals 16-64 20-26 56.
| Delaware Tech | 14 | 11 | 15 | 25- | 65 |
| Salem CC | 9 | 14 | 11 | 22- | 56 |
Region XIX Women’s Standings
| DIVISION II | R19 | ALL | GSAC |
| Harcum (3) | 11-0 | 20-1 | |
| Union (12) | 11-2 | 20-3 | 8-0 |
| Mercer (14) | 10-2 | 18-3 | 5-1 |
| Essex | 7-5 | 15-6 | 4-4 |
| Raritan Valley | 4-7 | 8-15 | 3-4 |
| Delaware Tech | 4-8 | 8-15 | |
| Middlesex | 3-9 | 9-16 | 0-6 |
| SALEM CC | 2-10 | 3-16 | 0-5 |
| Lackawanna | 1-10 | 4-14 | |
| Morris | 0-0 | 0-7 | 0-0 |
Number in parenthesis is JUCO Division II national ranking
THURSDAY’S GAMES
Delaware Tech 65, Salem CC 56
RCSJ-Gloucester 70, Camden 55
Atlantic Cape 93, Ocean 67
Northampton 72, Bergen 28
Montgomery at Brookdale
Monroe 98, Raritan Valley 58
Philadelphia 70, Sussex 52
Mercer 103, Middlesex 29
Union 65, Essex 59
SATURDAY’S GAMES
Salem CC at Middlesex
Camden at Philadelphia
RCSJ-Gloucester at Passaic
Northampton at Atlantic Cape
Ocean at RCSJ-Cumberland
Essex at Orange County
Mercer at Raritan Valley
Bergen at Montgomery
Lackawanna at Harcum
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