Top-ranked Mighty Oaks use a big second half to get past Ocean, will play for North Atlantic District title Saturday at Northampton
REGION XIX TOURNAMENT
North Atlantic District A
Salem CC 80, Ocean 60
Montgomery 85, Camden 65
North Atlantic District B
Brookdale 73, Union 62
Northampton 72, Bergen 64
Saturday’s district finals
At Northampton
Salem CC vs. Montgomery, 3 p.m.
Northampton vs. Brookdale, 6 p.m.
By Al Muskewitz
Riverview Sports News
CARNEYS POINT — In playoff basketball, a lot like golf, they don’t ask you how, they just ask how many.
It really doesn’t matter what it looks like wire-to-wire at this time of year as long as you win and advance.
Top-ranked Salem CC wasn’t;t at its sharpest for most of its Region XIX playoff game Thursday night, but the Mighty Oaks were at their best when it counted and got past Ocean 80-60 to earn a shot at the North Atlantic District A title Saturday and a guaranteed return trip to the JUCO Division III national tournament.
The Mighty Oaks (30-1) will play Montgomery County (20-4) for the district title Saturday at Northampton.
Ocean (16-13), the No. 8 seed, gave Salem a battle for 27 minutes and for a time it appeared the Mighty Oaks might be in for some anxious days awaiting the tournament selection committee’s four at-large bids to the nationals.
But, just as they’ve done many times this past season, they picked up the pace and won the game going away.
They trailed a team they put 100 on twice this season 50-49 with 13:03 to play. Playing in front of the biggest home crowd of the year, they came out a timeout and outscored the Vikings 31-10 the rest of the game. During that stretch, the Mighty Oaks held their visitors to 3-for-21 shooting and turned them over seven times.
Lee and Nayeem Johnson had five steals at the height of the run, including one by Lee at midcoast that Jarrell Little turned into a layup-and-one. “That was a big energy play,” Lee said. “I feel like that changed the momentum of the game.”
The Mighty Oaks showed glimpses of it late in the first half when they held the Vikings to seven straight empty possessions to fuel a 9-0 run that gave them a 31-23 lead with 3:55 left in the first half. But the Vikings got it back together and answered with their own 9-0 run to retake a 32-31 lead with 1:33 left.
When the Vikings went into the dressing room up 34-33, it marked only the second time since Jan. 1 the Mighty Oaks had trailed at the half. The other was in their loss to Brookdale.
Nasseem Wright led the Mighty Oaks with 18 points and 10 rebounds. Jarrell Little had a team-high 19 points, eight rebounds and six assists. Stefan Phillips, playing his final home game with the program, had 11 points and Saaid Lee had 10 points, six rebounds, four assists and four steals.
This story will be updated.
SALEM CC 80, OCEAN 60
OCEAN (16-13):.Myles Marabuto 5-10 4-4 16, Jamari Smith 5-22 6-9 16, Kai Barckley 0-3 0-0 0, Aiden Sosinov 4-13 3-6 11, James Gibbons 2-4 1-2 6, AJ Lemons 2-5 0-0 4, Omar Hadid 0-1 0-0 0, Aiden Falduto 0-0 0-0 0, Jeremy Grospe 0-3 0-0 0, Mattox Watson 1-1 0-0 3, Mason Krey 2-5 0-0 4. Totals 21-67 14-21 60.
SALEM CC (30-1): Jerrell Little 7-14 1-5 19, Saaid Lee 3-8 4-5 10, Zyaire Gibson 2-5 0-0 5, Nasseem Wright 8-10 1-3 18, Stefan Phillips 4-5 2-6 11, Jahseir Sayles 0-2 0-0 0, Qua Smith 0-0 0-0 0, Nayeem Johnson 2-7 3-4 7, Idris Rines 2-4 4-4 8, Mike Goodwin 1-1 0-2 2. Totals 29-56 15-29 80.
| Ocean | 34 | 26- | 60 |
| Salem CC | 33 | 47- | 80 |
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