No. 3 Mighty Oaks beat Camden to clinch best record in Region 19, basically clinching top seed in region/district Division III tournament, seeding Feb. 19
By Al Muskewitz
Riverview Sports News
CARNEYS POINT — The Salem CC basketball team reached another major milestone in an already historic season Thursday night when it put together another big second half and pulled away from Camden 76-48.
The official line is the third-ranked Mighty Oaks (28-1) simply clinched the best record in Region 19 Division III with their sixth straight win. Yeah, try selling that to them.
In their mind, they clinched the No. 1 seed in the league, one of two No. 1s in the upcoming Region 19/North Atlantic District Tournament.
“It’s a representation of all the work we’ve been putting in to this point,” freshman Nasseem Wright said. “We’re a new group of guys, we all trust in playing together. It’s just cool to see all the hard work that we’re putting in is paying off. Still more to gp though.”
It’s hard to argue the logic. The Mighty Oaks are 15-1 in Region 19 with one game remaining. In the unlikely event they lose Saturday’s regular-season finale against Sussex (8-21) and Northampton beats Camden to create a 15-2 tie at the top of the standings, the Mighty Oaks beat Northampton head-to-head, which should give them the advantage in any tiebreaker.
Region 19 basketball chairman Jack Sullivan, the athletics director at Morris, said Thursday the tournament field will be seeded based on the standings. It will be seeded Feb. 19.
Before Thursday’s games there were 10 teams in the mix that would be split into two separate five-team brackets (North Atlantic A & B) for the region’s two automatic berths in the national tournament in Herkimer, N.Y. Teams must be .500 or better either overall or in region play to qualify.
That’s what makes grabbing the No. 1 so appealing.
“We aren’t the only ones having a good year, so it’s good to clinch it,” Green said. “Matchups matter. Those 8-9-10 teams, Bergen, Atlantic Cape, they’re nothing to play with. We know this league is dangerous.”
There’s a strong belief that even if the Mighty Oaks stumble on the way out they’ll still get an at-large bid to the nationals.
What have they done so far? Won the GSAC. Check. Surpassed last year’s win total. Check. Clinched the top seed. Check.
“I want to go 3 for 3,” leading scorer Jarrell Little said. “Conference, Region 19 and national championship.”
They started out Thursday as if they were going to have an easy time with the Cougars (17-10), who traditionally have been anything but easy for them. They jumped out 14-0 in the first four minutes and later 19-7 on a 3-pointer by Saaid Lee, but then went flat and didn’t hit another field goal until another Lee 3-pointer with 4:57 left in the half and had to hold on for a 28-25 halftime lead.
“There’s no way you score 14 points in four minutes and then 14 points in 16 minutes; that’s just not us, man,” Green said. “We guarded. They only had 25 (at halftime). We just didn’t do the right things offensively.”
“I think we just got too selfish and complacent,” Lee said. “We just had to get back to what we do, playing our brand of basketball, sharing the ball, playing hard, playing fast.”
After Green “kind of straightened them out” at halftime with what Lee called “a conversation,” they got with the program.
The scored nearly twice as many points than they did in the first half and shot 53 percent from the floor. After not scoring at all in the first half, they bench gave them 13 points in the second. And they continued to play solid defense, holding the Cougars to 28 percent shooting and 23 points.
They went back up by eight at the start of the second half, but the Cougars cut it back to 37-34 with 16:23 to play. At that point the Mighty Oaks came back to life and returned to the form that had gotten them where they are today.
Wright, held to five points in the first half, scored 13 of their first 18 points of the second half, including a thunderous run-out dunk off a Little blocked shot that made it 46-34 with 11:38 to play. Six minutes later they were up 19.
Lee hit back-to-back 3-pointers from the right corner to make it 60-41 with 5:30 left. Wright and Lee scored 20 points apiece. Little had 16. Idris Rines grabbed 12 rebounds.
“First half I was gassed, I’m not gonna lie,” Lee said. “A lot of teams in the league don’t really work as hard as us and do as much as we do, so when we’re tired we always tell each other if we’re tired they gotta be dead, so just keep pushing through, keep fighting through the adversity.”
NOTES: The 48 points by Camden were the fewest allowed by the Mighty Oaks in Green’s 81 games as head coach … With his 16 points, Little surpassed 500 for the season and is now 26th on SCC’s all-time scoring list. Wright moved to within eight of the milestone … Saturday’s regular-season finale is Sophomore Day. “Maybe we’ll let the sophomores coach since they’ve got all the answers,” Green said . “Let Mike (Goodwin) coach. Let Nayeem (Johnson). Let Stef (Phillips) coach. It’s a celebration for them, hopefully we do something nice for them and send those guys out the right way” … Phillips expects to be back in uniform Saturday after missing the last three games with a sore knee … Never let it be said that Green doesn’t give the people what they want. With 2:38 to go the student section called for Green to put Goodwin in the game. The coach sent him in 1:43 left and the sophomore stayed in until the end. “Kid works hard every day in practice, he’s improved a ton, so he deserved the opportunity. Every chance we get ,we’re going to put him out there.”
SALEM CC 76, CAMDEN 48
CAMDEN (17-10): Kai Gatson 3-12 0-0 7, Ben McGonigle 0-3 0-0 0, ZhaMere Crawford 2-11 0-0 4, Christian Durham 3-6 0-1 8, Istavan Norwood 6-12 4-5 16, Stephen Robinson 2-3 0-0 4, Anthony Edwardi 1-3 0-0 2, Kevin Satchell 1-8 1-2 3, Sami Singletary 1-4 1-4 4. Totals 19-62 6-12 48.
SALEM CC (28-1): Jarrell Little 4-6 5-6 16, Saaid Lee 8-15 0-0 20, Zyaire Gibson 2-8 0-0 5, Nasseem Wright 8-12 4-5 20, Idris Rines 1-6 0-1 2, Jahseir Sayles 1-5 0-0 2, Qua Smith 2-2 0-0 2, Nayeem Johnson 3-9 1-2 7, Mike Goodwin 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 29-64 10-14 76.
| Camden | 25 | 23- | 48 |
| Salem CC | 28 | 48- | 76 |
Region XIX Standings
| DIVISION III | R19 | ALL | GSAC | GAMES LEFT |
| x-SALEM CC (3) | 15-1 | 28-1 | 20-1 | Sus, Sat |
| x-Northampton (8) | 14-2 | 22-4 | Cam, Sat; TS, Tu | |
| x-Brookdale (RV) | 14-3 | 19-8 | 13-5 | Union, Sat; Sus, Tu |
| x-Montgomery (9) | 13-3 | 18-4 | RC-G, Sat | |
| x-Camden | 12-4 | 17-10 | 12-9 | NH, Sat; Mercer, Tu |
| x-Union (13) | 12-5 | 20-8 | 11-4 | Brk, Sat; RC-C, Tu |
| x-Bergen | 10-7 | 15-12 | 15-11 | |
| x-Ocean | 9-7 | 14-12 | 10-10 | Luz, Sat |
| Atlantic Cape | 8-8 | 12-14 | 9-9 | HACC, Sat; Pas, Tu |
| RCSJ-Cumberland | 7-9 | 10-16 | 8-12 | |
| x-Philadelphia | 6-10 | 13-11 | Pas, Sat; Sus, Wed | |
| RCSJ-Gloucester | 6-10 | 10-19 | 4-16 | |
| Thaddeus Stevens | 5-10 | 10-14 | ||
| Harrisburg Area | 5-10 | 6-16 | ||
| Delaware County | 3-14 | 5-20 | ||
| Sussex | 2-13 | 8-21 | 4-13 | |
| Passaic | 2-14 | 4-23 | 3-15 | |
| Luzerne | 1-14 | 4-21 |
Number in parenthesis is JUCO Division III national ranking; games left in italic are region counters; x-clinched playoff berth
THURSDAY’S GAMES
Salem CC 76, Camden 48
Misericordia at Harcum
Montgomery 81, Northampton 61
Frederick 92, Delaware Tech 85
Manhattan CC at Bergen
Brookdale 87, Ocean 69
Union 83, Passaic 79
Philadelphia 81, Delaware County 58
Lackawanna 82, Raritan Valley 68
Bergen 80, Atlantic Cape 66
Harrisburg Area at Thaddeus Stevens
RCSJ-Cumberland 84, RCSJ-Gloucester 79
FRIDAY’S GAME
Delaware County at Luzerne
SATURDAY’S GAMES
Sussex at Salem CC
Passaic vs. Finger Lakes
Union at Brookdale
Atlantic Cape at Harrisburg Area
RCSJ-Cumberland at Thaddeus Stevens
Northampton at Camden
RCSJ-Gloucester at Montgomery
Ocean at Luzerne
Raritan Valley at Morris
Passaic at Roxbury
Lackawanna at Delaware Tech
Ulster at Middlesex
Philadelphia at Passaic
Harcum at Mercer
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