High-flying Salem plays for SJ Group I title after beating KIPP, faces Cinderella New Egypt Saturday; Paige’s dunk highlights the win
SJ GROUP I TOURNAMENT
Salem 56, KIPP 42
New Egypt 58, Palmyra 56
Saturday’s game
No. 14 New Egypt at No. 1 Salem, 3 p.m.
By Al Muskewitz
Riverview Sports News
SALEM — Fatah Paige delivered one of the most electric plays of the year and Tymear Lecator had a front-row seat for it.
Paige, Salem’s 6-4 transfer from Delaware, threw down a thunderous dunk in the second quarter of Wednesday night’s South Jersey Group I semifinal with KIPP that turned the gym upside down. The Rams already had the momentum, but the dunk was like hitting the turbocharger and they rode it to a 56-42 victory.
But to call it just a thunderous dunk would not do it justice. It was highlight film material.
It started with Paige’s steal in the backcourt. He got the ball to Lecator and the Rams’ crafty point guard had the presence to give it back to him. A defender came over looking to draw a charge, but Paige flew past him like he wasn’t there and slammed it down bringing the crowd tumbling out of their seats and head coach Anthony Farmer looking for the production truck.
“I’ve got to send it to ESPN, it was that crazy,” Farmer said.
“I didn’t know if he was about to take off; I wanted him to,” Lecator said. “I saw their guy get ready to take a charge and I saw the way (Paige) was going up and I knew he was about to dunk it. It was just crazy. Ref didn’t call a charge or anything. It was clean. He made the dude fall. It was just crazy. People ran on the court. It was just crazy. Momentum shot out the roof. The place erupted.
“That was the first time I ever witnessed somebody put somebody on a poster that bad in my life.”
As if that weren’t enough, the Rams got another steal and layup the very next play and rolled out to a 10-point halftime lead they extended in the third quarter and maintained the rest of the game. They now host New Egypt Saturday for the sectional crown.
Paige’s big play was just part of another big playoff performance from the Rams’ bigs. Deshaan Williams had 16 points and 10 rebounds, Paige grabbed 12 rebounds for the second straight game and Marshall Stephens had five rebounds and four blocked shots.
“Our bigs played amazing,” Lecator said. “I just thankful for my bigs. Honestly, I don’t think anybody has a solution for our size. Keep feeding confidence into them and they’re going to keep doing what they’ve got to do for me.”
In the Rams’ three playoffs wins, Williams has two double-doubles and is averaging 14 points and 10 rebounds, Paige is averaging 8 points and 10 rebounds, and Stephens has had eight points and 18 boards.
“They’ve been big,” Farmer said. “It’s been a strength for us on this run, being big and physical down the stretch and being able to match people inside and match their physicality. Having that trio of bigs has been key for our run.
“It’s definitely something you can’t take for granted, especially in Group 1. Having some size definitely gets you’re an advantage. But you look around the league, Glassboro had a trio of bigs, (but the Rams’) have been phenomenal. They’ve been taking in everything I’ve been preaching, that no one is as big and physical as us and we need to get on the boardboard, we need to impose our will and Fatah over this run has been a grown man. He’s flying around and creating havoc for people.”
The win sends the Rams to their first sectional final since Farmer’s first season with them in 2021-22. They last won a sectional crown in 2008 and played for the state championship. This team exceeded the 2021-22 team’s win total tonight.
Their opponent Saturday has become the talk of the tournament. The Warriors (14-14), entered the tournament as the 14th seed and have upset seeds 3, 6 and 2 in the bracket.
“Obviously they’ve been playing well enough to get there regardless of the seed, so we’ll approach them as a 2 seed,” Farmer said.
SALEM 56, KIPP 42
KIPP (17-10): Noel Campbell-Eason 0-0-0, Morton 5-2-12, Gabe Paul 3-0-8, Josiah Jones 3-0-6, Kamari Strickland 0-0-0, Jaleel Reddick 0-0-0, Moyston McIntosh 4-1-9, Nolan Sims 2-0-6, Mekhi Moore 0-1-1. Totals 17-4-42
SALEM (22-5): Deshaan Williams 7 2-5 16, Neziah Spence 4 4-5 13, Marshall Stephens 0 1-2 1, Tymear Lecator 5 1-1 13, Fatah Paige 2 1-2 5, Darrelle Johnson 3 0-0 8, Donnie Weathers 0 0-0 0, Kyvion Parsons 0 0-0 0, NJ Robbins 0 0-0 0. Totals 22 9-15 56.
| KIPP | 11 | 9 | 7 | 15- | 42 |
| Salem | 16 | 14 | 12 | 14- | 56 |
GROUP I SECTIONAL FINALS
SOUTH
New Egypt (14-14) at Salem (22-5)
CENTRAL
Point Pleasant Beach (21-7) at Thrive Charter (20-5)
NORTH I
Pequannock (22-6) at Waldwick (20-9)
NORTH II
Arts (19-8) at Shabazz (26-1)
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