Top-ranked Mighty Oaks overcome slow start to stay undefeated; women fall under a barrage of 3s

By Al Muskewitz
Riverview Sports News

SEWELL – For the better part of the first half Saturday it looked like this was going to be it, the day somebody finally gets the Salem CC basketball team and hands the Mighty Oaks their first loss of the season.

RCSJ-Gloucester came out hitting shots and the Mighty Oaks came out, well, not. The top-ranked team in the land was down 13 eight minutes into the game and again at the 10-minute mark of the first half.

At that point Salem coach Mike Green had seen enough to know he had seen too much. He called a 30-second timeout to tell his team to get on the stick, and they responded.

They clawed back into it and actually built a six-point lead before going into the break up by one. They never lost the lead in the second half and eventually pulled away from the Roadrunners 96-84 to hold onto all the good things they have built to this point in the season.

“I think this was the first time this year we took somebody a little lightly,” Green said. “I told them their coaches were really good, they’re players we really good. They ain’t got nothing to lose. They’re coming to play against the No. 1 team, so you’ve got to be locked in. I don’t think we were locked in to start the game.

“It gets like that when you’re complacent. You’re 17-0, you’re No. 1 in the country, sometimes you ain’t fired up. But we woke up pretty quick. They got fired up some really quickly after that.”

It was easy to see how that could have happened. The Mighty Oaks (18-0) were coming off a win over No. 7 Union that was the biggest threat to their undefeated record to date, they were winning games by an average of 20 points a game, and they beat Saturday’s hosts by 28 in their first meeting in December.

But the Roadrunners (6-13) had different ideas. They ran out to leads of 22-9 and 28-15 in the first 10 minutes by using tenacious defense that forced Salem at one point into eight straight empty possessions and sharp 3-point shooting.

They were 7-of-8 from beyond the arc in the first half. They hit their first three 3s in a 15-2 run that produced the 22-9 lead. Two more 3s – one by former Salem High standout Jabez DeJesus – pushed it 28-15 with about 10 minutes left in the half. That’s when Green called time to reset the mindset.

“We definitely came out a little slow; we definitely looked over them a little bit,” gunner Zyaire Gibson said. “It’s hard to win, win, win and keep the same mentality all the time, but our coach does a great job of keeping us together and playing hard. After he called the time out, he talked to us and made sure everybody knew what they were supposed to do and we went out and figured it out.”

The Mighty Oaks (18-0) got back in it by doing what the Roadrunners were doing to them early in the game. They came out of the timeout, turned up the defensive intensity and promptly went on a 15-0 run to take the lead.

“Since we beat them by 30 the first time we came here thinking as a team they were going to lay down, but they didn’t,” Jerrell Little said. “It’s probably the first or second time we’ve taken a team lightly; maybe the first game of the season too we took them lightly.

“Our coach always says we’re the No. 1 team in  the nation so we’re gonna get everybody’s best game and especially being at home we’re going to get double people’s best game. We came in (complacent) a little bit, but at least we picked it up, got the win. But now we know, like people are hunting. We just have to be the hunters next time.”

Gibson played one of the biggest roles in keeping the Mighty Oaks out front. He hit five of his career-high six 3-pointers in a 21-point second half and finished the game with a career-high 26. He opened the second half with a 3 and a layup to extend the lead, then drained four 3s in a row from both corners in a personal 16-point run over the final five minutes to ice the game.

He was 9-of-18 from the floor overall, 6-of-15 from 3-point range. His previous high for 3s was five against Bergen in the home opener and at Ocean.

“They got a real soft rim; it makes it a little easier to shoot,” he said. “At the home gym we’re shooting every day, it’s kind of routine. Here it took me a little while to get in the groove, but I figured it out.”

ACORNS: Gibson (top photo) was one of four Mighty Oaks scoring in double figures. Saaid Lee had 17 points, nine assists and four steals. Nasseem Wright had 16 points and Little 15 …. Wright and Idris Rines combined for five blocked shots that all seemed to come at crucial points in the game … Ace Lassiter led RCSJ with 24 points, but the Mighty Oaks held him to six in the second half. 

SALEM CC 96, RCSJ-GLOUCESTER 84
SALEM CC (18-0): Zyaire Gibson 9-18 2-2 26, Saaid Lee 7-11 2-3 17, Nasseem Wright 6-9 4-6 16, Jarrell Little 6-14 0-0 15, Stefan Phillips 2-3 1-2 5, Idris Rines 2-4 1-1 5, Nayeem Johnson 1-5 2-2 4, Qua Smith 2-2 0-0 4, Jaiayre Wright 2-3 0-2 4, Jahseir Sayles 0-2 0-0 0. Totals 37-71 12-18 96.
RCSJ-GLOUCESTER (6-13): Nasir Williamsbey 5 2-2 13, Ace Lassiter 7 7-9 24, Julian Johnson 2 0-0 6, Amara Secho 1 0-0 2, Hajir Davis 8 6-7 23, Aiden Cramner 3 1-2 7, Jabez DeJesus 3 2-2 9. Totals 29 18-22 84.

Salem CC	44	52–	96
RCSJ-Gloucester	43	41–	84

Region XIX Standings

DIVISION III	R19	ALL	GSAC
SALEM CC (1)	12-0	18-0	11-0
Northampton (5)	9-0	14-1
Union (7)	10-2	13-3	10-2
Montgomery (9)	5-1	8-2
Ocean	9-2	10-4	6-3
Brookdale	11-3	11-5	7-3
Camden	6-3	9-6	6-5
RCSJ-Cumberland	6-5	7-8	6-6
Bergen	7-8	8-10	3-7
Atlantic Cape	5-7	6-8	4-7
Thaddeus Stevens	3-5	6-9
RCSJ-Gloucester	4-11	6-13	1-7
Sussex	3-11	5-13	3-9
Delaware County	2-8	3-12
Passaic	3-12	3-13	3-9
Luzerne	1-6	4-11
Harrisburg Area	1-6	2-12
Philadelphia	1-8	6-8

Number in parenthesis is JUCO Division III national ranking

SATURDAY’S GAMES
Salem CC 96, RCSJ-Gloucester 84
Montgomery 95, Harrisburg Area 86
Ocean 95, Thaddeus Stevens 86
Chesapeake 91, Raritan Valley 67
Delaware County at Luzerne
Union 67, Atlantic Cape 53
Mercer 71, Montgomery (Md.) 69
Bergen 77, RCSJ-Cumberland 68
Northampton 90, Sussex 70
Morris 76, Delaware Tech 72
Essex 72, Camden 63
Middlesex 142, Kingsborough 66

Women’s game

SEWELL – Story posting soon.

SEWELL – Salem CC women’s coach Brian Marsh knew how good a player RCSJ-Gloucester’s Shannon Pierman was from the way he recruited her out of Woodstown High School and one of the focuses for his team Saturday was to limit her effectiveness inside as much as possible.

But the Roadrunners found a way around those plans. They killed it from the outside.

They hit 12 3-pointers and shot down the Mighty Oaks 71-54. 

The Roadrunners, No. 15 in JUCO Division III, hit 10 3-pointers in the first half to open a 45-23 lead. Anna DiPiero hit six of her seven 3s in the first half — five in the second quarter. Alaina LaMonica hit three in half and Hadley Rodriguez had the other.

DiPiero and LaMonica both finished with 21 points. Pierman, the team’s overall leading scorer and rebounder, had 13.

“Our goal was to stop Shannon, and then No. 22 (DiPiero) went, what, 7-for-8 from 3-point land in the first half,” Marsh said. “They shot 80 percent as a team from 3-point land in the first half and that’s really hard to come back from. We tried, it’s just I think our defense wasn’t there today.

“I tell the girls Salem basketball is defense and rebounding and we’re going to get our offense out of that. It’s just one of the things we’ve got to keep working.”

The Mighty Oaks (2-10) did get it back to 14 with two and a half minutes left in the fourth quarter, but got no closer.

RayNescia King led Salem with 14 points. Tanijya Shaw had 12. King had 10 of her points in the second half and Shaw had eight.

“I thought they played hard, but I just don’t think were consistent enough and I think that’s showing in our record,” Marsh said. “Minute by minute, quarter by quarter, there’s just some inconsistencies.

“I thought we played really well the last four games even though there are a couple losses there. Against Monroe I thought we played really well and just today it kind of seems we regressed a little bit.”

RCSJ-GLOUCESTER 71, SALEM CC 54
SALEM CC (2-10) – RayNescia King 5 1-6 14, Tanijya Shaw 6 0-0 12, Kasey Oliver 2 2-3 6, Paula Wilson 2 0-0 5, Ameriyona Hunter 1 0-0 3, Dani Gustin 1 3-4 6, Justine Cardona 4 0-0 9, Jayda Hunter 0 0-0 0. Totals 21 6-13 54.
RCSJ-GLOUCESTER (11-3) – Anna DiPiero 7 0-1 21, Alaina LaMonica 7 3-3 21, Emma Buttocovia 3 1-2 7, Vienna Gantz 0 0-0 0, Brenna Ivey 0 0-0 0, Hadley Rodriguez 1 0-0 3, Shannon Pierman 5 3-6 13, Tinu Bamgbose 1 1-2 3, Savannah Shute 1 1-2 3. Totals 25 9-16 71.

Salem CC	7	16	15	16-	54
RCSJ-Gloucester	17	28	10	16-	71

Region XIX Women’s Standings

DIVISION II	R19	ALL	GSAC
Harcum (5)	6-0	14-1
Union (7)	8-1	14-3	6-0
Mercer (18)	6-2	10-3	3-1
Essex	6-3	10-4	5-2
Delaware Tech	4-4	5-11
Raritan Valley	3-5	6-8	3-3
Lackawanna	2-6	2-9
SALEM CC	1-5	2-10	0-3
Middlesex	1-6	6-13	0-4
Morris	0-5	0-5	0-3

Number in parenthesis is JUCO Division II national ranking

SATURDAY’S GAMES
RCSJ-Gloucester 71, Salem CC 54
Bergen at RCSJ-Cumberland
Delaware Tech 94, Morris 46
Northampton 72, Sussex 43
Essex 86, Camden 55
Mercer 102, Montgomery (Md.) 44
Cecil 77, Middlesex 55

Salem CC returns to the court; No. 1 men put away No. 7 Union in biggest challenge to their top billing to date; cold fourth-quarter shooting ruins women’s upset bid of No. 5 Monroe-Bronx

MENS BASKETBALL
Salem CC 74, Union 68
WOMEN’S BASKETBALL
Monroe-Bronx 51, Salem 46

By Al Muskewitz
Riverview Sports News

CARNEYS POINT – It’s been 18 days since the Salem CC men’s basketball team last played a game and when the Mighty Oaks returned to the floor Tuesday it had to come against the biggest threat to their undefeated record and No. 1 ranking this season.

It’s a new calendar year and the schedule will get infinitely harder from here on out, but the Mighty Oaks got through the first one all right, putting down No. 7 Union College of New Jersey, 74-68.

It’s been so long since this team of mostly first-year college players have played it literally felt like the first time. They had to get used to being back on the floor together and the flow and rhythm of the game again, but they eventually did — just like they’ve always done this season.

“We just had to adjust to the game,” guard Saaid Lee said. “Throughout the game I was just thinking back to our first game of the season. This is exactly like that. You just had to adjust and just get the jitters out. First game of the semester.

“It took a while (to get adjusted), I’m not gonna lie. But once it clicked, it clicked. We were cool.”

Just like in the opener at Atlantic Cape the Mighty Oaks (17-0) fell behind at the outset, and just like in the opener they came to life in the second half to win.

They trailed the team they beat in the third round of last year’s national tournament by 13 in the first half and battled back to within four at halftime. They fell back by nine at the start of the second half, then found their game and did what they’ve always done this season to get a lead.

The game turned for them during a crazy 22-second stretch midway through the half. It started with Zyaire Gibson blocking a shot and Nasseem Wright converting it into a three-point play at the other end to give them the lead for the first time since 5-1 with 8:52 to play. They never lost it.

The next trip Lee picked Kanye Brown’s pocket at midcourt and was fouled driving to the basket. He hit both free throws to make it 52-48.

The Mighty Oaks nearly forced a turnover on the next possession. On the ensuing inbounds play, Idris Rines knocked a ball that appeared to be kicked free and was fouled in the scramble. It was Union guard Tareak Williams’ fifth foul, which set off Owls coach Devon Stansbury and earned him a technical.

Lee made one of the two tech shots and Rines hit both of his free throws. The Mighty Oaks who had trailed by one with nine minutes left were now up seven with 8:30 left.

“I just remember before it I huddled my team and told them we get three stops in a row and the game was ours,” Lee said. “And that’s exactly what we did.”

“We knew we were going to go on a run soon,” Wright said. “Going into the half their two best players didn’t come out of the game so we knew they were tired. Once we put a little more pressure on their guards and made them get out and made the other people score I felt like that’s when the dominoes would start falling.”

They still had some work to do, however. The Owls made it 59-57 with 5:26 to play, then Jarrell Little and Rines wrapped 3-pointers around a UCNJ free throw and the Mighty Oaks were back up seven with 3:27 to go.

“It’s been that way all year for us,” Mighty Oaks coach Mike Green said. “A couple games we were down and had to fight back. This wasn’t any different. This is one of the better teams. We knew it was going to be a war coming in. 

“That’s what we do. If we’re behind ,we do what we do, we get back to where we need to be and we’re really good with the lead, really good with the lead. But we showed them this year we can play from behind and grind the game out.”

One of the things the Mighty Oaks did do to maintain the lead was make their free throws. In the six minutes after Wright’s go-ahead three-point play, they were 12-of-13 from the line. They were 19-of-21 in the half and 21-of-29 in the game.

“That’s one thing we’re keying on, even in practice we shoot a lot of free throws,” Wright said. “And at game speed as well. We’ll be running up and down at practice and then we’ll shoot free throws and if we miss we’ve got to run again. So we condition for those late-game moments. Two, three minutes left in the game, we need the free throws, we’re all tired, but we’re able to go to the line and knock them down.”

The Mighty Oaks placed five scorers in double figures. Wright bounced back from a tough first half to score a team-high 16 points. Rines had 13 (11 in the second half), Little 12, and Lee and Gibson 11 apiece. Union’s Jake Zawacki led all scorers with 24 points.

Just like his team, it took Wright a little while to get back in the swing of things. He had four points and four turnovers in the first half, but after the break he hit 3-of-4 shots, got to the foul line more, scored 12 points and had only one turnover.

“Once I realized how physical it was, going into the second half I knew what I had to do coming out,” Wright said. “Going into the half my coaches were telling me not to bail them out, not to get caught up in all that other stuff, just play my own game and coming out the second half that’s what I did.”

SALEM CC 74, UNION 68
SALEM CC (17-0): Jarrell Little 3-6 5-9 12, Saaid Lee 3-7 5-6 11, Zyaire Gibson 4-10 0-0 11, Nasseem Wright 5-11 6-9 16, Stefan Phillips 1-2 1-1 3, Jahseir Sayles 0-1 0-0 0, Qua Smith 1-2 0-0 2, Nayeem Johnson 3-10 0-0 6, Idris Rines 4-10 4-4 13. Totals 24-59 21-29 74.
UNION (11-3): Tareak Williams 1-6 1-2 3, Craig West 1-3 0-0 2, Nicolas Acosta 8-22 3-5 19, Kanye Brown 0-1 0-0 0, Jeremiah Saint Jean 2-10 1-2 5, Anthony Hicks 1-7 2-5 4, Aljanai Best 2-4 0-0 4, Nasir Calloway 3-6 0-0 7, Jake Zawacki 9-18 2-2 24. Totals 27-77 9-16 68.

Salem CC	29	45–	74
Union	33	35–	68

3-point goals: Salem CC 5-18 (Little 1-2, Lee 0-1, Gibson 3-7, Wright 0-2, Johnson 0-1, Rines 1-5); UCNJ 5-15 (Williams 0-1, West 0-1, Hicks 0-2, Best 0-1, Calloway 1-1, Zawacki 4-9). Rebounds: Salem CC 40 (Lee 7, Little 6, Wright 6); UCNJ 45 (Acosta 14, Saint Jean 12). Technical fouls: Saint Jean, Union coach Stansbury, Rines, Salem CC coach Green. Fouled out: Williams, Saint Jean. Total fouls: Salem CC 24, UCNJ 17.

Region XIX Standings

DIVISION III	R19	ALL	GSAC
SALEM CC (1)	11-0	17-0	11-0
Northampton (5)	8-0	13-1
Union (7)	8-2	11-3	8-2
Ocean	8-2	8-4	5-3
Montgomery (9)	4-1	7-2
Brookdale	11-3	11-5	7-3
Camden	6-3	9-5	6-4
RCSJ-Cumberland	6-4	6-7	5-5
Thaddeus Stevens	3-4	6-7
Bergen	6-8	7-9	2-6
Atlantic Cape	4-6	5-7	3-6
RCSJ-Gloucester	4-10	5-11	1-6
Sussex	3-9	5-11	3-8
Passaic	3-11	3-12	3-8
Delaware County	2-8	3-12
Harrisburg Area	1-5	2-10
Luzerne	1-6	4-11
Philadelphia	1-8	6-8

Number in parenthesis is JUCO Division III national ranking

TUESDAY’S GAMES
Salem CC 74, Union 68
Miseracordia JV 83, Luzerne 76
Raritan Valley 74, Manhattan CC 69
Orange CC at Middlesex
Howard CC 82, Delaware Tech 59
WEDNESDAY’S GAME
Harrisburg Area at Chesapeake
THURSDAY’S GAME
Union at Sussex
Harcum at CCBC Dundalk
Thaddeus Stevens at Miseracordia JV
Bergen at Ocean
Passaic at Atlantic Cape
FRIDAY’S GAME
Penn State DuBois at Lackawanna
SATURDAY’S GAMES
Salem CC at RCSJ-Gloucester
Harrisburg Area at Montgomery
Ocean at Thaddeus Stevens
Raritan Valley at Chesapeake
Delaware at Luzerne
Union at Atlantic Cape
Montgomery (Md.) at Mercer
Bergen at RCSJ-Cumberland
Northampton at Sussex
Morris at Delaware Tech
Camden at Essex
Kingsborough at Middlesex

Women ‘played well, but …’

CARNEYS POINT – The Salem CC women gave the fifth-ranked team in Division III all it could handle, but they went cold from the floor in the fourth quarter and fell to Monroe-Bronx 51-46.

The Mighty Oaks (2-9) made just one of 19 shots in the fourth quarter. They led 46-45 with 6:45 to play, then didn’t score again. The Express (14-1) didn’t shoot it great either in the fourth quarter, but found the bucket enough to earn their seventh straight victory.

“I thought we did what we were supposed to do on defense, but when we needed a basket we just didn’t get it,” Salem coach Brian Marsh said. “The players played hard.”

The cold fourth quarter dropped the Mighty Oaks to 32 percent shooting for the game (19-for-60). They also were just 5-of-15 from the free throw line. The Express shot an even worse percentage (18-for-66), but made six 3-pointers and nine free throws.

Monroe led early on by 10, but the game was close throughout. There were six lead changes and nine ties.

The teams fought to a 13-13 tie in the first quarter with Salem’s Justine Cardona beating the buzzer with a layup to get it even. It was a two-point game at halftime and a one-point game going into the fourth quarter.

It was Cardona’s two free throws that gave the Mighty Oaks the lead in the fourth quarter.

Cardona led the Mighty Oaks with a game-high 17 points and 10 rebounds off the bench. Tanijya Shaw had 10 points and Dani Gustin had eight points and eight rebounds.

“I told the players I’m getting tired of ‘we played well but…’ games,” Marsh said. “We’ve got to finish games and we’ve got to win games. We’ve shown people, especially our last four games, what we’re doing. I think this is the team that we are and they’re starting to come together.”

MONROE-BRONX 51, SALEM CC 46
MONROE-BRONX (14-1) – Jaeda Kelly 0-0 0-0 0, Beverly Williams 4-20 3-8 13, Aniyah McLamb 6-12 2-4 14, Salimah Williams 5-19 2-4 15, D Stephenson 0-2 0-0 0, Jhency Pabon 0-0 0-0 0, Lea Tavarez 1-7 0-0 3, Tyra Williams 0-1 0-0 0, Jazmyne Rios 2-5 2-4 6, Aviah Richards 0-0 0-0 0, Sade Gibbs 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 18-66 9-20 51.
SALEM CC (2-9) – RayNescia King 1-9 0-2 2, Tanijya Shaw 5-17 0-0 10, Dani Gustin 4-6 0-4 8, Paula Wilson 2-4 0-0 6, Jayda Hunter 0-6 1-2 1, Justine Cardona 6-15 4-7 17, Kasey Oliver 1-3 0-0 2. Totals 19-60 5-15 46.

Monroe-Bronx	13	20	10	8-	51
Salem CC	13	18	11	4-	46

3-point goals: Monroe 6-36 (B. Williams 2-11, S. Williams 3-14, Tavarez 1-7, T. Williams 0-1, Rios 0-3); Salem CC 3-12 (King 0-3, Shaw 0-1, Wilson 2-4, Hunter 0-1, Cardona 1-3). Rebounds: Monroe 42 (T. Williams 8, Rios 8); Salem CC 43 (Cardona 10, King 9, Gustin 8). Technical fouls: Monroe coach Ling, Salem CC bench. Total fouls: Monroe 15, Salem CC 18.

Region XIX Women’s Standings

DIVISION II	R19	ALL	GSAC
Harcum (5)	6-0	14-1
Union (7)	8-1	14-1	6-0
Mercer (18)	6-2	10-3	3-1
Essex	6-3	9-4	4-2
Delaware Tech	3-4	4-11
Raritan Valley	3-5	6-8	3-3
Lackawanna	2-6	2-9
SALEM CC	1-5	2-9	0-3
Middlesex	1-6	6-12	0-4
Morris	0-4	0-4	0-3

Number in parenthesis is JUCO Division II national ranking

TUESDAY’S GAMES
Monroe-Bronx 51, Salem CC 46
Howard CC 72, Delaware Tech 67
Sussex 77, RCSJ-Cumberland 50
Montgomery at Bergen
Middlesex 92, Orange CC 43
Union at Monroe
THURSDAY’S GAMES
RCSJ-Cumberland at RCSJ-Gloucester
Passaic at Atlantic Cape
Bergen at Ocean
Sussex at Delaware County
SATURDAY’S GAMES
Salem at RCSJ-Gloucester
Bergen at RCSJ-Cumberland
Morris at Delaware Tech
Northampton at Sussex
Camden at Essex
Montgomery (Md.) at Mercer
Cecil at Middlesex