Cougars tennis advances

Thursday sports report: Schalick tennis advances in South Jersey Group I playoffs; Salem basketball gets high-scoring transfer from Delaware after Lecator transfers to Vineland

By Riverview Sports News

The Schalick boys tennis team beat the rain and Wildwood 5-0 in the opening round of the South Jersey Group I tennis tournament Thursday.

The seventh-seeded Cougars (9-10) now travel to second-seeded Haddon Twp. (13-7) Tuesday at 3 p.m.

Pennsville’s and Penns Grove’s first-round matches were postponed by the weather. Eighth-seeded Penns Grove will host Palmyra Friday at 2:30 p.m. Fifth-seeded Pennsville is scheduled to host Audubon.

In another match, Pitman defeated Lower Cape May 4-1 and will play third-seeded Woodstown in Tuesday’s quarterfinals.

Basketball: Transfer news

The Salem Rams lost a dynamic player to the high school “transfer portal” earlier this spring, but Thursday they landed an equally dynamic player coach Anthony Farmer believes will make them better.

Gi’lyl Conrad, a 6-foot junior combo guard from AI DuPont High School in Delaware, enrolled in Salem Thursday. He’ll fill the void created by versatile rising senior guard Tymear Lecator’s transfer to Vineland.

Lecator scored 1,061 points and dished 272 assists for the Rams in three seasons. Conrad averaged a fraction over 20 points a game last season and was the second leading scorer in Delaware. The news of Lecator’s departure had some basketball observers writing the Rams off for the coming season, but the arrival on Conrad has them back on the favorites list.

“Ty was good for us,” Farmer said. “He got us to a point to get to the big one; we just didn’t get over the hump. You’d love to see a guy that close run it back.

“We were fortunate enough to get a guy who I think fits well with the group of guys we already have who I think can get us over the hump this year. We don’t miss a beat. I think he’s gonna make us better.”

On Friday, the Rams also posted a “Welcome to Salem City” post for 6-7 incoming freshman William Cooper Reed of Alloway.

The Rams have a heavy summer lined up. Their June schedule includes City of Lave Basketball (June 6), Total Turf Summer League (starting June 17) and Philly Live II (June 26-28).