Salem CC men eclipse last year’s win total by getting past RCSJ-Gloucester; women fall at Middlesex
By Al Muskewitz Riverview Sports News
DEPTFORD – The Salem CC basketball team reached another milestone in what is quickly becoming an historic season.
The Mighty Oaks came from behind Saturday to beat RCSJ-Gloucester 94-75 for its third win in a row. More significantly, it was their 12th win of the season (12-4), eclipsing their win total of the entire 2023-24 season (11-14), and moving them within two wins of qualifying for postseason play.
“I’m not downplaying that, it’s definitely significant, but the job’s not finished,” coach Mike Green said. “That was never our goal to win more games than last year. Our goal is to compete for something at the end of the year, compete for a championship, compete for a trophy, all that stuff. And we’re in a good position to do so, so far.”
Their best season since reviving the program was 18-10 in 2021-22, but that team didn’t get its 12th win that season until Feb. 1.
It took the Mighty Oaks a while to get going in this one. They fell behind by 11 six minutes into the game and trailed by nine with nine minutes left in the half. But that’s where they started to turn it around.
They put together a 22-4 run to take the lead before halftime and then opened the second half with an 18-2 run to put it away.
“We want to wear teams out,” Green said. “Teams that play six and seven people, we want to wear them out. I feel like we wore them down with our first unit, then our second unit came in and wore them down. It worked out well that way.
“And we guarded better. The first half they shot a high percentage – it looked like they barely hardly missed. The second half we did a better job guarding them in the half court and got out and got some runs.”
Everybody contributed. Jaheim Spencer had a game-high 19 points, but six players scored in double figures. Akeem Taylor and Josh Ramos each had 12, Tamir Powell and Tyrese Fortune each had 11, and Tajee Jordan had 10.
Powell had nine straight points in the middle of the first-half flurry, including a 3-pointer with 4:54 left in the half that gave the Mighty Oaks the lead for good
After Saturday’s high-scoring win, the Mighty Oaks are 14th in JUCO Division III in scoring. They’re in the top 10 in 3s made per game and free throw percentage and the top 20 in rebounding.
With a plus-7 turnaround through 16 games over last season, might it be time for the Mighty Oaks to start getting attention in the Division III poll. After all, one of their most recent wins was over one of the teams also receiving votes in the most recent poll.
“How does that work?” Green asked. “I think we’ve done enough to at least get some votes, but that’s on the coaches. Can’t really control that. If somebody thinks we’re a force to be reckoned with, then cool. If not, then we’ll be showing them.”
Top photo: Salem CC’s Jaheim Spencer (32) races to bring the ball up the floor against RCSJ-Gloucester Saturday. (Photo courtesy Gus Ostrum, RCSJ-Gloucester)
SALEM CC 94, RCSJ-GLOUCESTER 75 SALEM CC (12-4) – Jyheim Spencer 9-16 1-3 19, Akeem Taylor 4-7 3-5 12, Josh Ramos 4-8 0-0 12, Tamir Powell 5-9 0-0 11, Tyrese Fortune 5-8 0-1 11, Tajee Jordan 5-7 0-0 10, Xavier Brewington 3-6 0-0 8, A.J. Jones 3-3 0-0 6, Tivon Woolford 2-5 0-0 5, Dontarius Jones 0-4 0-0 0. Totals 40-73 4-9 94. RCSJ-GLOUCESTER (6-10) – Hajir Davis 5 4-6 16, Titus Bacon 5 2-4 14, Ace Cassiter 3 2-3 9, Aiden Cranmer 2 0-2 5, Fred Orock 7 2-6 16, Kendell McCray 3 1-1 7, Chance Kershaw 0 0-0 0, Daniel Mendez 5 0-3 10, Jon Guzman 0 0-0 0, Amara Sacko 0 0-0 0. Totals 30 11-25 75.
Salem CC
45
49-
94
RCSJ-Gloucester
41
34-
75
3-point goals: Salem CC 10-26 (Taylor 1-2, Ramos 4-7, Powell 1-3, Fortune 1-3, Brewington 2-3, Woolford 1-4, D. Jones 0-4); RCSJ-Gloucester 4 (Davis 2, Cassiter, Cranmer). Rebounds: Salem CC 32 (Spencer 9, Jordan 6, Brewington 5). Total fouls: Salem 23, RCSJ-Gloucester 13.
Women’s game
EDISON – It was a game, comparatively speaking, the Salem CC women should have brought back to Carneys Point as a win.
The Mighty Oaks drilled Delaware Tech by 24 when the teams played earlier this year. Middlesex barely beat them at the buzzer when they played recently.
But that’s the danger of comparing scores. The Mighty Oaks struggled in the second half on the road and Middlesex sent them home with a 63-40 setback.
Salem scored only 14 points in the second half. Middlesex’ Genilah Singleton had nine of her game-high 15 in the third quarter.
“There was no energy, no execution,” Mighty Oaks coach Brian Marsh said. “And on the road that’s not a good combination.”
Maggie St. Clair was Salem’s leading scorer with 10 points. The Colts (7-8) had three scorers in double figures.
The Mighty Oaks (6-7) return to action Tuesday at home against Harcum (11-4), No. 19 in the last JUCO Division II poll dated Dec. 16.
Here are the results of Saturday’s basketball and wrestling events involving Salem County teams
GIRLS BASKETBALL Woodstown 44, Delsea 19 BOYS BASKETBALL Camden Catholic 88, Woodstown 42 St. Joseph 50, Penns Grove 43 Schalick at Collingswood
By Riverview Sports News
WOODSTOWN – The Woodstown girls put forth one of their best defensive efforts of the season, holding their opponent to one field goal in the second half and scoreless in the fourth quarter, in beating Delsea 44-19 Saturday for their third straight win.
It was the second opponent the Wolverines held to fewer than 20 points and shutout in a quarter they season. They held Salem scoreless in the third quarter of their 61-16 win in the season opener.
“The fourth quarter was phenomenal,” Woodstown coach Matt Smart said. “In the beginning of the game we were allowing too many cuts, not boxing out and not playing good help defense. We were able to talk at halftime and focus on doing the little things right.
“Our team had a very open conversation at halftime about what was working for us and what we needed to improve. That’s the great thing about having a team with a high basketball IQ. They can clearly explain things that they are seeing on the court and we can make adjustments.”
Megan Donelson and Talia Battavio led the Wolverines’ offense with 19 and 18, points, respectively. They combined for all 17 of Woodstown’s points in the first quarter.
Gianna Maiorini had 12 rebounds, while Donelson and Hengel had eight each. As a team, the Wolverines had 12 steals and blocked six shots.
BOYS GAMES CAMDEN CATHOLIC 88, WOODSTOWN 42 WOODSTOWN (4-3) – Elijah Caesar 2, Alejandro Vazquez 5, Garrett Leyman 0, Andrew White 1, Rocco String 10, Connor Miller 9, Blake Bialecki 6, M.J. Hall 7, Joshua King 0, John Hood-McGinley 0, Sid Leevy 0. CAMDEN CATHOLIC (8-1) – Nymir Daily 2, Shane Congleton 7, Seamus Bieg, Charlie Neal 3, Luke Kennevan 23, Sean Welde 2, Chase Langrehr 5, Bryce Clark 10, Azyris Richmond 6, Mel Jones 4, Zach Winkler 4, Nick Tartamosa 2.
Woodstown
7
14
11
10-
42
Camden Catholic
23
22
17
26-
88
3-point goals: Woodstown 6 (Vazquez, Miller 3, Bialecki 2); Camden Catholic NA. Rebounds: Woodstown 31 (String 12). NOTE: String also had four blocked shots, giving him 140 for his career.
ST. JOSEPH (HAMM.) 50, PENNS GROVE 43 ST. JOSEPH (9-1) – Will Spross 2 6-8 10, Jameer Gordon 8 3-4 19, Edwin Drummond 4 2-4 10, Cayden Banks 1 1-4 3, Donny Spross 3 0-0 8, Chris Hill 0 0-0 0. Totals 18 12-20 50. PENNS GROVE (2-6) – Brandin Robbins 3-1-8, Roman Gipson 5-1-11, Karon Ceaser 1-0-2, Antoine Robinson 2-0-4, Haneef Frisbee 2-0-4, Jameel Horace 2-0-4, William Roy 2-1-5, Luis Colon 2-1-5. Totals 19-4-43.
St. Joseph
9
9
12
19-
50
Penns Grove
10
9
8
19-
43
3-point goals: St. Joseph 2 (D, Spross 2); Penns Grove 1 (Robbins).
RaNiyah Wilson, Penns Grove (Kingsway 251/Penns Grove 552)
DNP
803
Games through Jan. 11
Wrestling
Millville Quad
PENNSVILLE 48, OAKCREST 30 113: Erick Davalos (P) won by forfeit 120: Joey Sanchez (O( pinned Jacob Hand, 4:00 126: Vincent Ciccantelli (P) won by forfeit 132: Nathaniel Mason (P) pinned Kevin Longo, 2:00 138: Gave Supernavage (P) pinned Erick Montas-Arias, 2:00 144: Travis Hagan (P) pinned George Swoyer, 2:00 150: Ryan Monroe (O) won by forfeit 157: Aiden Xayaphachan (O) won by forfeit 165: Adienn Aponte (O) pinned Juan Velasquez, 4:00 175: Joseph Halstead (P) pinned Juan Anaya, 2:00 190: Connor Ayars (P) pinned Malik Hughes 215: Jose Anaya (O) won by forfeit 285: Trevor Waddington (P) pinned Jeremiah Lopez, 2:00 106: Double forfeit
PENNSVILLE 37, OVERBROOK 36 (x-Pennsville wins on criteria) 106: Jacob Sole (O) pinned John Sassi, 1:35 113: Brett Land (P) pinned Kayden Branco, 3:57 120: Michael Mahon (O) pinned Mehki Dicks, 2:53 126: Kevin Reed (O) pinned Vincent Ciccantelli, 5:34 132: Nathaniel Mason (P) dec. Damiano Redrow, 9-8 138: Alan Marcos (O) dec. Telvin Duk, 8-5 144: Gabe Supernavage (P) pinned Isaiah Natal, 1:36 150: Travis Hagan (P) pinned Jaevon Mitchell, 2:24 157: Karter Reed (O) won by forfeit 165: Juan Velasquez (P) pinned Randall Ringstaff, 1:04 175: Joseph Halstead (P) dec. Oscar Calderon, 9-3 190: Connor Ayars (P) pinned Xyon Marshall, 4:18 215: Cooper Himes (O) won by forfeit 285: Tomas Sanchez (O) dec. Trevor Waddington, 2-0
MILLVILLE 46, PENNSVILLE 33 120: Ruben Cruz (M) maj. dec. Mekhi Dicks, 14-3 126: Joshua Roman (M) pinned Vincent Ciccantelli, 0:26 132: Nathaniel Mason (P) pinned Caleb Rhoads, 5:24 138: Patrick Tull (M) pinned Gabe Supernavage, 3:24 144: Travis Hagan (P) pinned Alexander Mendez, 2:13 150: Jared Hoffman (M) won by forfeit 157: Ryan Tepper (M) won by forfeit 165: MarQuis Allen (M) pinned Juan Velasquez, 1:35 175: Joseph Halstead (P) pinned Trystan Brooks, 1:59 190: Connor Ayars (P) pinned Tyshawn English, 2:32 215: Jayden Jones (M) won by forfeit 285: Trevor Waddington (P) dec. Keani Speights, 1-0 106: Karter Parker (M) pinned John Sassi, 0:46 113: Brett Land (P) won by forfeit
Deptford Quad
DEPTFORD 66, PENNS GROVE 12 106: Corey Hoffman (D) pinned Jose Santiago 113: Avery Curriden (P) pinned Julian Colon 120: Dylan Smith (D) won by forfeit 126: Amir Barnes (D) maj. dec. Devine Arce, 12-1 132: Ethan Christmas (D) tech fall Adan Gonzales, 16-1 138: Jaylen Huertes (D) pinned AbdulMuta’Alie IbnAbdulHailmTart 144: Quentin Boyce (D) won by forfeit 150: Odess Myers (D) won by forfeit 157: Devin Trotter (D) won by forfeit 165: Gavyn Henderson (D) won by forfeit 175: Mel Maguire (D) dec. Clinton Bobo, 7-6 190: Shawn McLaughlin (D) pinned Julian Espino 215: John Griffith (D) pinned Antonio Cooper 285: Wayne Scott (P) pinned Daniel Maguire
PENNS GROVE 54, ST. JOSEPH (HAMM.) 24 113: Avery Curriden (P) won by forfeit 120: Double forfeit 126: Devine Arce (P) pinned Naheem Davis, 0:16 132: Adan Gonzales (P) won by forfeit 138: AbdulMuta’Alie IbnAbdulHailmTart (P) won by forfeit 144: Mason Hollywood (SJ) won by forfeit 150: Paul Lacy (SJ) won by forfeit 157: Tre Brown (P) won by forfeit 165: Colin Steiner (SJ) won by forfeit 175: Clinton Bobo (P) won by forfeit 190: Julian Espino (P) won by forfeit 215: Antonio Cooper (P) won by forfeit 285: Wayne Scott (P) pinned Cayden Banks, 1:27 106: Damien Spera (SJ) pinned Jose Santiago, 1:04
COLLINGSWOOD 64, PENNS GROVE 18 106: James Jiles (C) pinned Jose Santiago, 2:24 113: Kenny Olsen (C) pinned Avery Curriden, 1:12 120: Rufus Burris (C) won by forfeit 126: Devine Arce (P) pinned Sean Byrd, 2:30 132: Oscar Reyes (C) pinned Adam Gonzales, 0:55 138: Avange Santos (C) pinned AbdulMuta’Alie IbnAbdulHailmTart, 2:26 144: Stewart Chang (C) won by forfeit 150: Christopher Sanchez-Chavez (C) won by forfeit 157: Matt Malinowski (C) tech fall Tre Brown, 21-5 165: Caden Luby (C) won by forfeit 175: Clinton Bobo (P) pinned Julian Maxwell, 3:38 190: Josiah Evans (C) pinned Julian Espino, 1:12 215: Nyeim Bennett (C) tech fall Antonio Cooper, 19-4 285: Wayne Scott (P) pinned Derek Fleming, 1:13
Buena Quad
SCHALICK 65, BUENA 12 126: Luke Silva (S) pinned Zach Cohen, 1:10 132: Ryan Miller (S) pinned Thomas Hann, 5:04 138: Gionni Sharkey (B) pinned Colin Bittle, 4:30 144: Ayden Jenkins (S) won by forfeit 150: Lucas Gellura (B) dec. Koen Martin, 8-4 157: Riley Papiano (S) pinned Donato Vai, 1:20 165: Eric Sulik (S) won by forfeit 175: Ricky Watt (S) won by forfeit 190: Evan Elliott (S) won by forfeit 215: Brian Passamante (B) dec. Gerardo Felipe, UTB 3-2 285: Julian Reid (S) won by forfeit 106: Emma Cain (S) tech fall Gianna Edwards, 19-3 113: Caleb Jenkins (S) pinned Aubrey Raum, 0:40 120: E’Shion Underwood (S) pinned Jack Mazzoni, 1:10
SCHALICK 52, CUMBERLAND 20 132: Ryan Miller (S) pinned Killian McGraw, 1:15 138: Chase Williams (CU) dec. Colin Bittle, 8-7 144: Daniel Lloyd (CU) tech fall Ayden Jenkins, 17-2 150: Michael Carastro (CU) dec. Koen Martin, 7-3 157: Riley Papiano (S) dec Gary Albert, SV-1 6:31 165: Eric Sulik (S) pinned Gabriel Rodriguez, 3:09 175: Ricky Watt (S) tech fall David Seeger, 17-1 190: Evan Elliott (S) tech fall Sebron Hall-Jones, 16-1 215: Gerardo Felipe (S) over Noval Jenkins, DQ 285: Julian Reid (S) pinned Gavin Hayes, 1:22 106: Victor Fenske (S) won by forfeit 113: DeAnthony Harden (CU) dec. Caleb Jenkins, 7-1 120: Kolton Sheppard (CU) pinned E’Shion Underwood, 1:34 126: Luke Silva (S) pinned Logan Smith, 3:39
SCHALICK 49, TIMBER CREEK 27 120: E’Shion Underwood (S) tech fall Dominic Speakman, 19-3 (3:44) 126: Luke Silva (S) tech fall Ayden Zarnosky, 18-2 (2:23) 132: Ryan Miller (S) pinned Josh Wolfenden, 3:10 138: Colin Bittle (S) won by forfeit 144: Ayden Jenkins (S) pinned Eric Rambaran, 3:00 150: Joey Walker (TC) pinned Koen Martin, 2:54 157: Riley Papiano (S) won by forfeit 165: Ryan Kuriger (TC) pinned Eric Sulik, 0:27 175: Ricky Watt (S) dec. Zyeir Green, 8-6 190: Amir Reason-Dallas (TC) pinned Evan Elliott, 3:49 215: Elijah Green (TC) dec. Gerardo Felipe, 11-4 285: Roland Green (TC) pinned Julian Reid, 3:53 106: Victor Fenske (S) won by forfeit 113: Caleb Jenkins (S) won by forfeit
Cinnaminson Duals
WALL 47, WOODSTOWN 24 113: Omar Carrillo-Solano (WA) tech fall Luke Woronicak, 15-0 (3:59) 120: Carson Bradway (WO) pinned Charles Mahoney, 0:40 126: Travis Balback (WO) pinned Nicholas Traina, 0:17 132: Ben Waitzel (WA) pinned Louie Scholl, 1:39 138: Mason DiStefano (WA) pinned Ryan Polk, 1:31 144: Joseph Matri (WA) won by forfeit 150: Michael Boulard (WA) pinned Thomas Lacy, 3:08 157: Parker Quinn (WA) pinned Brett Rowand, 5:12 165: Joe Donofrio (WA) dec. Laitton Roberts, 4-1 175: Jeremy Marsella (WA) dec. Greyson Hyland, 6-5 190: Paul Banff (WO) dec. Sean Cosme, 3-0 215: Walter Carter (WO) dec. Eric Clauburg, 9-3 285: Mateo Vinciguerra (WO) won by forfeit 106: Bryson Jarosz (WA) pinned Hunter Allen, 2:33
WOODSTOWN 60, HADDON TWP. 24 120: Carson Bradway (WO) pinned Andrew Marshall, 0:29 126: Travis Balback (WO) pinned Owen Ziegler, 1:31 132: Blake Thoder (H) pinned Louie Scholl, 3:43 138: Thomas Andrews (H) pinned Ryan Polk, 1:50 144: Brady Mokoid (H) won by forfeit 150: Justin Capri (H) pinned Thomas Lacy, 2:37 157: Brett Rowand (WO) won by forfeit 165: Laitton Roberts (WO) pinned Ryan Henry, 1:27 175: Greyson Hyland (WO) pinned Antonio Reyes, 2:48 190: Paul Banff (WO) pinned Joseph Sum, 0:49 215: Walter Carter (WO) pinned Elijah Borowicz, 2:18 285: Mateo Vinciguerra (WO) pinned Sean Weikel, 1:11 106: Hunter Allen (WO) pinned Sok Hoy, 2:23 113: Luke Woronicak (WO) pinned Jon Rodriquez, 1:32
HADDONFIELD 41, WOODSTOWN 28 126: Walker Battavio (WO) dec. Alexander Frey, 9-3 132: Pierce Hoffman (H) dec. Travis Balbeck, 8-5 138: William Dietz (H) won by forfeit 144: Chase Degillo (H) maj. dec. Ryan Polk, 11-1 150: William Barker (H) pinned Thomas Lacy, 4:45 157: Hutch Rhyne (H) pinned Brett Rowand, 3:07 165: Aidan Rhea (H) dec. Laitton Roberts, 9-3 175: Greyson Hyland (WO) tech fall Parker Bawidamann, 20-3 (5:26) 190: Paul Banff (WO) pinned Rafael Lytle, 1:28 215: Walter Carter (WO) won by forfeit 285: Mateo Vinciguerra (WO) won by forfeit 106: Hunter Allen (WO) dec. Harrison Carroll, 7-1 113: Cole Spence (H) maj. dec. Luke Woronicak, 13-1 120: Michael Lamb (H) pinned Carson Bradway, 1:47
‘Locked in’ senior Tunis has career night while leading deliberate Salem to a victory over LEAP; Pennsville crushed by Clayton
FRIDAY’S GAMES Salem 48, LEAP 28 Clayton 101, Pennsville 45
By Al Muskewitz Riverview Sports News
SALEM – Joe Tunis says he’s “locked in” this year and that’s really good news – for Joe Tunis and the Salem basketball team.
Tunis was on the team last season but didn’t see enough action to be productive. He changed his mindset in the offseason and is playing regularly in the rotation. Friday night the senior guard had the best game of his career in leading the Rams to a 48-28 win over LEAP Academy that snapped a two-game losing streak.
He led all scorers with 14 points and grabbed seven rebounds.
“I wasn’t really locked in (last year); I’m locked in now,” he said. “I realized it’s my last year, coach told me I had to lock in, so I locked in.
“I want to win. Last year, losing in the playoffs to Pitman, that hurt. I didn’t want to feel like that anymore. We’ve lost two back-to-back tough ones (this week) we should’ve won (Pitman and Glassboro). Wanted it bad. Hate losing, that’s all it is.”
Consistency has always been Tunis’ key. It wasn’t there a lot of the time last year when it came to going to practice and it impacted how much coach Anthony Farmer was going to play him.
While some bits of Allen Iverson remain, he has gotten away from what he called that “childish mindset” and has played in eight of the Rams’ 10 games this year, producing 41 points and 28 rebounds with his most consistent production coming the last two nights.
His best game before going off against the Lions (4-5) was nine points and six rebounds against Woodstown in the second game of the year. He had eight points Thursday night at Glassboro.
“He was tremendous,” Farmer said. “We know what Joe can do, but Joe’s issue has been consistently showing up and being here. We’re better with Joe, when he’s around. We call him ‘The Junkyard Dog,’ he does a little bit of everything. Tonight, it went in for him. That’s great. Hopefully he stays hot for us.”
The Rams (7-3) needed somebody to break out because the game wasn’t played at their typical fast tempo. Farmer deliberately slowed down and it led to just an 18-12 lead at halftime.
Tunis and Donnie Weathers both drew starts because they were the spark in the stretch the Rams were at their best in an otherwise lacking performance against Glassboro. The 48 points were the fewest they’ve scored in a win since beaten Gloucester Catholic with 39 in January 2023.
“I don’t think we’ve been playing pretty good basketball,” Farmer said. “We’ve been able to squeak out seven wins now, but tonight I didn’t let them get up and down. We’ve been in the half-court a lot and we stink in the half-court. We had 18 points at the half, just running half-court offense.
“That was by design. I know in order to win the big game come March we’re going to have to settle down in the half-court and you’re going to have to run something. You can’t just rely on Ty (Lecator) to run around and jack up shots. We’ve got to get better, so that was by design.”
The second half they were a little more efficient, outscoring the Lions 30-16. Lecator (eight) and Xavier McGriff (seven) scored all of their points in the second half. Tunis had 10 in the half – seven in a 9-0 run that opened the third quarter and a 3 in the fourth.
“We thought (Tunis) could be a piece last year, but the consistency hurt him,” Farmer said. “Hopefully this helps him with some confidence and he’s feeling good about his role on the team and how important he is to the team. If he buys in he can be a really big picture for the back stretch.”
DeShaan Williams and Azhone Burden continued their strong play since the start of the new year. Williams had five points, three rebounds and blocked six shots against the Lions. Burden, a 6-4 senior transfer from Bridgeton who just became eligible this week, had seven points, 10 rebounds and five assists.
In the three games he’s played since becoming eligible, Burden has 35 points and 28 rebounds. Williams has 58 points and 30 rebounds in his last four games.
“It’s great to have him back,” Farmer said of Burden. “He can do a multitude of things for us and he’s going to be a big piece to our success down the line. It’s been a tough stretch for him being a senior having to sit and wait, so we’re just happy to have him back and he’s excited.
“I’ve been trying to get (Williams) to come out of his shell. He’s a real quiet kid, a real humble kid, a coach’s dream, but I’ve been urging for more from him and he’s turning it on.”
3-point goals: LEAP 2 (Rodriguez 2); Salem 3 (McGriff, Spence, Tunis). Rebounds: LEAP 28 (Noel 10); Salem 30 (Burden 10, Tunis 7). Fouled out: Shoultz. Total fouls: LEAP 16, Salem 12.
Recently eligible Azhone Burden (15) and sophomore DeShaan Williams have been consistently giving Salem big games since the start of the new year. Top photo: Joe Tunis (14) had a career game Friday night.
CLAYTON 101, PENNSVILLE 45: Princeton Sackor scored 23 points and grabbed 17 rebounds as the Clippers handed Pennsville (1-7) its fifth straight loss. Demetris Williams (14), Nazir Davis (12) and James Fritz (10) also scored in double figures for Clayton (4-4).
It’s the third time the Clippers have scored 100 points in a game this season and the fifth time in their last six one of the teams in the game scored 100.
Salem CC women allow fewest points since reviving the program, dump RCSJ-Cumberland to win second game of new year, reach .500 first first time since Dec. 12
By Al Muskewitz Riverview Sports News
CARNEYS POINT — Kathryn Laurence scored a season-high 18 points, the bigs dominated the post and the defense was sharp as the Salem CC women crushed RCSJ-Cumberland 53-24 Thursday night.
The win was their second in a row and got them back to .500 (6-6) for the first time since Dec. 12. The 24 points were the fewest the Mighty Oaks have allowed in a game since reviving the program last season. They held the Dukes (5-8) scoreless for the first 6:30 of the game and to just one point over an 11-minute stretch of the second and third quarters.
They held the Dukes to 16.7 percent shooting for the game and forced them into 29 turnovers, off which they scored 22 points.
“We didn’t have a great game offensively (shooting 27 percent and committing 25 turnovers), but we played good defense and got the win,” Mighty Oaks coach Brian Marsh said. “We’re off to a good start in the new year (2-0), but we have a tough opponent on the road Saturday that beat us twice last season (Middlesex).
“We have really started to play with a chip on our shoulder and much better basketball on both ends of the floor.”
Laurence hit 7 of 18 shots from the floor, including four 3-pointers. She hit her first two 3s in the Mighty Oaks’ 12-0 start. The 5-5 sophomore guard from Texas has scored in double figures in four of her last five games, averaging 13 points per game in the stretch.
On the inside, Akira Chambers had a double-double with 14 points and 10 rebounds, and Dani Gustin had 11 rebounds to go with five points.
Donelson mccracks down on McCracken, Leyman big in the post and Woodstown beats Wildwood in OT; includes all of Thursday’s Salem County basketball action
GIRLS GAMES
BOYS GAMES
Woodstown 49, Wildwood 46 (OT)
Woodstown 66, Wildwood 47
Glassboro 64, Salem 20
Glassboro 76, Salem 62
Penns Grove 47, Pitman 26
Pitman at Penns Grove, ppd.
Schalick 36, Salem Tech 26
Schalick 79, Salem Tech 22
Pennsville 58, Triton 49
Gloucester Catholic 61, Pennsville 40
By Al Muskewitz Riverview Sports News
WOODSTOWN — How many times does it happen? You have a game with some of the most dynamic scorers in South Jersey and of course it’s defense that determines the outcome.
Woodstown’s Megan Donelson cracked down on Macie McCracken and the Wolverines gained a bit of satisfaction for last year’s last-second loss in the sectional final, beating Wildwood in overtime 49-46 Thursday night to give first-year coach Matt Smart an early signature win.
“It always comes down to defense,” Smart said. “It’s about boxing out, rebounding, defense. McCracken’s an incredible player. She’s going to get her points no matter what defense you throw on her. It’s about limiting her opportunities, playing nice good hard defense and then boxing her out and making her only get one shot instead of two or three and Megan was phenomenal. She was up to the challenge.
“That’s kind of what we always preach, play unselfish basketball. And defense, you have to be unselfish. She did a great job. Other girls did a great job switching, hedging, all the little things to try to limit her. She still played amazing. She’s an incredible basketball player and our girls just kind of took it as a personal challenge.”
Donelson was on McCracken from the time the Warriors got off the bus. She held the senior on the verge of 2,000 career points to one field goal and four points in the first half, no points in overtime and 14 points total. Meanwhile, she scored 13 points to go over the 1,300-point career mark.
“My goal was just to shut her down because I know she’s a good shooter; yeah, lock down,” Donelson said. “When coach gives me a player to man up on I just follow what he says and give it my all on that one player.”
But she wasn’t the only one who came up big in a big game. Kyia Leyman, who had been limited the last two seasons because of knee injuries, gave the Wolverines a huge game in the post, scoring 11 points and grabbing 19 rebounds — both career highs — and blocking two shots.
She had four points and eight rebounds in the first half and back-to-back three-point play opportunities in the third quarter to help the Wolverines open a nine-point lead.
“I think my mindset was just to do it for the team,” Leyman said. “It was definitely a team effort and I wanted to be there for them. I didn’t want to let them down, so I think I just tried my best — and I wanted to come back and beat a really good team. I think this was the best I’ve played, the most calm, collected I’ve played (since coming back).”
Donelson’s layup with 42 seconds left in regulation tied the game at 41. Both teams had shots in the closing seconds to win it. Donelson stole an entry pass but lost her footing driving to the basket. Gianna Maiorini collected the loose ball on the baseline but her shot was blocked by Sara Djellal. The Warriors raced back up the floor for the final shot, but McCracken’s 3 from the left side hit off the far iron and Leyman grabbed the rebound as the horn sounded.
Woodstown (6-2) jumped out front in overtime and never lost the lead. Donelson drove around the lane for the first basket and Talia Battavio, who struggled with her shot most of the game, squared up on the left elbow and buried at 3 to give the Wolverines a five-point lead. Battavio had 12 points in the game.
“That was pretty big,” Battavio said of her 3. “I feel like it got us motivated, fired up a little bit, got me fired up.”
Wildwood (6-1) had the ball for a last shot in overtime. The Warriors had it on the sideline near the scorer’s table with 1.1 seconds left and needed what seemed like a miracle 3 to tie. They had trouble pulling the trigger on the inbounds and when they did get it in the pass landed in the hands of Woodstown’s Lauren Hengel as the clock expired.
The Warriors beat Woodstown in last year’s South Jersey Group I final in a controversial finish after the home crowd rushed the floor in reaction to Wildwood’s go-ahead 3-pointer in the final seconds. While the game was on everyone’s mind, Smart said revenge wasn’t the motivating factor in this regular-season game.
“We’re a different team than the team last year, they’re a different team than they were last year,” Smart said. “Our message to the girls this week was this isn’t professional wrestling. We don’t beat them today and get the belt back. There’s still a lot of work to do. This is just a first step.”
But it was satisfying nonetheless.
“Leading up to this game we talked about three things in the team — being confident, being relaxed and having fun — and I think we did those three things as a program today,” Smart said. “It was a fun game.”
Woodstown’s Kyia Leyman (33) leaves her feet in hopes of disrupting Wildwood’s inbounds play Thursday night. On the cover, Megan Donelson forces Macie McCracken (3) to take a deep 3 in the first half.
PENNSVILLE 58, TRITON 49: The Eagles fought through illness and the absence of leading scorer Nora Ausland to rally for their fourth in a row. They were down 10 at one point in the second quarter, but rallied to get the deficit to one at halftime. Pennsville’s Taylor Bass led all scorers with a season-high 21 points. Addison Johnston had a career-high 19 points and Marley Wood had 12.
3-point goals: Schalick 2 (Willoughby 2); Salem Tech 3 (Drummond, Liber 2). Rebounds: Salem Tech 43 (White 14, Doerr 9).
GLASSBORO 64, SALEM 20 GLASSBORO (4-4) — Sanaa Thomas 1 0-0 2, Tamia Smith 5 4-8 14, Grace Moore 4 1-1 9, NiJha Norzon Clark 1 0-0 3, Brackett 7 1-4 19, Kimora Miles 1 3-6 5, Sianna Wedderburn 3 2-2 8, Lily Czubas 2 0-0 4. Totals 24 11-21 64. SALEM (0-7) — Carlysia Pierce 1 2-3 4, Nevaeh Hickman 4 2-3 12, Dakirah Gray 1 0-0 2, Amariah Frye 1 0-0 2. Totals 7 4-6 20.
Glassboro
14
18
17
15-
64
Salem
3
2
9
6-
20
3-point goals: Glassboro 5 (Clark, Brackett 4); Salem 2 (Hickman 2). Rebounds: Glassboro 41 (Wedderburn 12, Miles 11). Only four Salem players reported.
Boys Games
WOODSTOWN 66, WILDWOOD 47: Rocco String came within two blocked shots of his elusive triple-double and led the Wolverines to their fourth straight victory. String had 18 points, 16 rebounds and eight blocked shots in his fourth straight double-double and fifth of the season. The Wolverines had three other scorers in double figures — M.J. Hall (season-high 16), Alejandro Vazquez (10) and Blake Bialecki (12) — and Garrett Leyman grabbed 11 rebounds.
WOODSTOWN (4-2) — Elijah Caesar 4 1-2 9, John Hood-McGinley 1 0-0 3, Blake Bialecki 6 0-0 12, Alejandro Vazquez 4 0-0 10, M.J. Hall 6 0-0 16, Garrett Leyman 0 0-0 0, Anthony Bokolas 0 0-0 0, Andrew White 0 0-0 0, Rocco String 9 0-0 18. Totals 30 1-2 66. WILDWOOD (2-6) — Eric Jordan 1 0-0 2, Nolan Mawhinney 2 0-0 5, Trevor Troiano 3 0-0 9, R.J. Blanda 0 0-0 0, Vinny Sweeney 0 2-2 2, Jordan Dozier 0 0-0 0, Brian Cunniff 10 6-7 27, Sammy Santiago 1 0-0 2, Jack Fullertonn 0 0-0 0. Totals 17 8-9 47.
GLASSBORO 76, SALEM 62 SALEM (6-3) — Xavier McGriff 2 0-0 5, Tymear Lecator 7 4-5 15, Deshaan Williams 2 7-13 13, Darrelle Johnson 4 0-0 9, Joe Tunis 2 2-2 8, Ashore Burden 5 1-1 11, Donovan Weathers 0 0-0 0. Totals 22 14-21 62. GLASSBORO (3-5) — Xavier Sabb 14, Kenny Smith 28, Davon Barr 6, Maurice Davis 10, Tashean Thomas 3, Alex Adeleye 2, Aiden Harris 11, Marley Crowl 2.
Salem
15
11
20
16-
62
Glassboro
17
22
17
20-
76
3-point goals: Salem 4 (McGriff, Lecator 3); Glassboro NA. Note: The Rams have lost two in a row.
SCHALICK 79, SALEM TECH 22: Reggie Allen scored 18 points, Nylan Sutton added 14 and Sherrod Jones 10 as the Cougars snapped a seven-game losing streak and kept the Chargers winless. Eleven players scored for Schalick.
SALEM TECH (0-9) — Joseph Hayes 2 1-3 6, Larry Pompper 0 1-3 1, Keidyn Robinson 1 0-0 2, Logan Pace 0 2-2 2, Krolle 1 0-0 2, Ayars 2 1-6 5, Ayden Myers 1 1-2 4. Totals 7 6-16 22. SCHALICK (2-7) — Reggie Allen Jr. 8 1-2 18, Nylan Sutton 7 0-2 14, Jase Volovar 3 1-2 9, Sherrod Jones 5 0-0 10, Justin Iacona 1 0-0 3, Zaeshawn Mills 3 0-0 8, Jamari Whitley 1 2-4 4, Sean Kelly 2 0-0 4, Jacob Schalick 1 4-5 7, Ryan Horner 1 0-0 3, Gauge Craner 0 1-2 1. Totals 32 9-17 79.
Here is the Salem County sports schedule for the rest of this week
JAN. 8 WRESTLING Gloucester Catholic at Schalick Pennsville at Penns Grove Salem at Cumberland Woodstown at Deptford SWIMMING Salem at Lower Cape May TRACK Pennsville, Salem, Schalick at Bennett Center, Toms River JAN. 9 GIRLS BASKETBALL Glassboro at Salem Penns Grove at Pitman, 4 p.m. Schalick at Salem Tech Triton at Pennsville Wildwood at Woodstown BOYS BASKETBALL Pennsville at Gloucester Catholic Pitman at Penns Grove Salem at Glassboro Salem Tech at Schalick Woodstown at Wildwood BOWLING Salem Tech vs. Kingsway at Wood Lanes SWIMMING Schalick at Camden County Tech Salem vs. Gloucester Catholic at GCIT, 8:30 p.m. Woodstown vs. Highland at GCIT TRACK Penns Grove at Cherokee WOMENS COLLEGE BASKETBALL RCSJ-Cumberland at Salem CC, 5 p.m.
JAN. 10 BOYS BASKETBALL LEAP at Salem Pennsville at Clayton WRESTLING Collingswood at Schalick
JAN. 11 GIRLS BASKETBALL Delsea at Woodstown, 11:30 a.m. BOYS BASKETBALL Woodstown at Camden Catholic, 11:30 a.m. St. Joseph at Penns Grove, 1 p.m. Schalick at Collingswood WRESTLING Pennsville, Oakcrest, Overbrook at Millville Penns Grove at Deptford Salem at Cherokee Schalick, Cumberland, Timber Creek at Buena
Cinnaminson Duals Round 1, 9:30 a.m. M1: Seneca vs. Haddon Twp. M2: Paulsboro vs. Cinnaminson M3: Lower Cape May vs. Haddonfield M4: Wall vs. Woodstown Round 2, 11 a.m. M5: Seneca-Haddon Twp winner vs. Wall-Woodstown winner M6: Paulsboro-Cinnaminson winner vs. LCM-Haddonfield winner M7:Seneca-Haddon Twp loser vs. Wall-Woodstown loser M8: Paulsboro-Cinnaminson loser vs. LCM-Haddonfield loser Round 3, 12:30 p.m. M9: Match 5 winner vs. Match 6 winner M10: Match 5 loser vs. Match 6 loser M11: Match 7 winner vs. Match 8 winner M12: Match 7 loser vs. Match 8 loser MENS COLLEGE BASKETBALL Salem CC at RCSJ-Gloucester, noon WOMENS COLLEGE BASKETBALL Salem CC at Middlesex, noon
Tuesday boys roundup: Salem, Pitman stage another epic battle; all four Salem County boys teams in action fall
BOYS GAMES Clayton 102, Salem Tech 39 Glassboro 54, Schalick 31 Overbrook 66, Penns Grove 33 Pitman 83, Salem 77 (OT)
By Riverview Sports News
SALEM — Pitman and Salem have staged some epic battles the last two seasons and Tuesday night continued the trend.
Elijah Crispin scored 38 points and grabbed 10 rebounds to lead the Panthers over the Rams 83-77 in overtime. Crispin was 16-of-25 from the free throw line.
Salem’s Neziah Spence sent the game into overtime with one of his three 3-pointers, but Pitman outscored the Rams 10-4 in the extra period.
Tymear Lecator and Deshaan Williams led the Rams with 21 and 20 points, respectively. Lecator also had five rebounds and seven assists. Williams also had eight rebounds. Ashore Burden added 15 points.
Salem CC returns to action after three-week break, sweep Camden CC; Taylor, Spencer have smashing debuts
MEN’S GAME Salem CC 84, Camden CC 79 WOMEN’S GAME Salem CC 61, Camden CC 55
By Al Muskewitz Riverview Sports News
CARNEYS POINT – Mike Green had been saying for weeks his Salem Community College basketball team would be different and better when the four players who had been sitting on the sidelines in street clothes got on the court in January. He wasn’t wrong.
Akeem Taylor, Jyheim Spencer, Tamir Powell and Taje’e Jordan — all out the first semester for ankle injuries or academics — all made their season debuts Tuesday night and the Mighty Oaks indeed were different than they had been.
Taylor and Spencer had smashing debuts that literally were three years in the making, but all four played big roles as the Mighty Oaks opened the new year with an entertaining 84-79 win over long-time thorn Camden CC. They had beaten the Cougars only once in their previous eight games since reviving the program in 2019 (Dec. 21, 2021).
Taylor, who missed the first half of the season with an ankle injury and spent the first semester doing the book at the scorer’s table, had 33 points, five rebounds and two assists, prompting inquiring minds to wonder if it was the most points in a Salem CC debut at least since the revival of the program. Spencer, who also had an ankle injury, had 22 points, 14 rebounds, three assists and three blocked shots in his first college game since December 2020.
Powell, another of the first-semester boot brigade, had six points and four assists. And Jordan, who played on the team last year but was academically ineligible in the first semester, had two points and six rebounds.
“I like to pride myself on telling you the truth,” Green said. “They’re just different players, man. I wish we would’ve had them earlier, but they’re at the top of the league when it comes to top players and they showed it from Day One. I didn’t expect them to show it like that so early, but they showed it.
“I knew they were good. I knew they’d be good, thinking maybe 16 for one, 18 the other, but 30 and 20, that’s next level. We knew we had that firepower coming in. The coaching staff did a good job of saying we’ll be all right, let’s just get through it, because once we get the full team we’ll be tough to deal with.”
And they weren’t even as full of strength as they could be even with the additions. Niame Scott and Julien Jones are out for a considerable period with first-semester injuries. They lost two other contributors as academic casualties and a third is stepping back to focus on his coursework. Dontarius Jones and Tyrese Fortune missed the game still stuck in Delaware after the weekend snowstorm. And A.J. Jones hasn’t registered for second semester classes yet.
Taylor, a 6-4 sophomore guard from Chester, started his college career at Kutztown in 2021 and then took a gap year before landing at Salem. He wasn’t sure he was even going to play Tuesday. He tore all three ligaments in his left ankle in a preseason practice and had only been cleared to play hours before tip.
He wasted no time getting involved. He took Salem’s first shot of the game, a left-handed layup that rolled off the rim. He got it again on the next possession and this time rolled it in right-handed for the game’s first points.
He had 16 points at halftime on 7-of-9 shooting, including back-to-back three-point plays – one off a sharp pass from Spencer – during the Mighty Oaks’ early comeback. He and Spencer combined for 15 of Salem’s first 17 points of the game.
“First game against a real good team that we lost to the first time, there was a lot of hype, so I was excited to get back,” he said. “I was looking forward to this game – a lot – because they’re one of the top teams in our conference.
“I thought it was just going to be a game to get me in the rhythm, but the first couple shots went in and I was like it’s go time. That was the best debut ever, the best one I ever had my whole life.”
Spencer had an even longer and harder road to get here. He started out at Caldwell University in 2020, but ran into academic difficulties, left school and fell into trouble that got him incarcerated for 18 months. Green found him, gave him a shot “not knowing me from a can of paint,” for which is he greatly appreciative, and now the 6-8 post from Dover is a freshman here with two years of eligibility.
“I was kind of nervous a little bit but my teammates told me it’s just another game,” Spencer said. “They were encouraging me that I’m really him, that I’m really a dog out there on the court. It doesn’t matter who’s guarding me, just go out there and do what you’re supposed to do.
“I didn’t think I was going to do what I did, but my teammates encouraged me to go harder than what I usually do. I really fed off them.”
No more than three of the newcomers were on the floor at any one time in the game and most of the time there were two, but they all got significant minutes. Among other things, they allow the Mighty Oaks to play more above the rim and free up some of their other shooters.
New and old players alike didn’t get the new year off to a good start. Perhaps it was the combination of the two big newcomers having three years off of competition and the team not playing since Dec. 19, but the Mighty Oaks (11-4) fell behind 15-4 at the outset.
They finally started getting things together when Spencer entered for the first time five minutes into the game. They got back within one on Taylor’s crashing putback with 7:40 left in the half and took the lead for the first time since 2-0 on two free throws by Powell with 5:55 to go. They trailed 41-39 at the break, but it stayed tight the rest of the game.
The Mighty Oaks pulled away late. They opened a seven-point lead on Spencer’s slam with 1:51 to go, then sealed it with three free throws by Taylor and Powell in the final 11 seconds.
SALEM CC 84, CAMDEN CC 79 CAMDEN CC (9-6): Tyson Shaw 4-8 1-2 9, Demere Hollingsworth 5-11 5-6 16, Mikey Campbell 3-7 1-2 7, Elijah Hightower 14-18 2-7 30, Jacquez Williams 3-9 0-0 6, Noah Allen 0-1 0-0 0, Charlie LaBarre 0-0 0-0 0, Glenmore King 2-4 0-0 5, Davit Gelashvilli 1-2 0-0 3, Cam Rambert 0-3 0-1 0, Titus Blalock 1-3 1-2 4. Totals 33-66 10-20 79. SALEM CC (11-4): Tamir Powell 1-11 3-3 6, Joshua Ramos 1-9 0-0 3, Xavier Brewington 3-13 4-6 11, Rodney Shelton 0-3 0-0 0, Akeem Taylor 11-19 10-12 33, Tivon Woolford 1-3 4-6 7, Taja’e Jordan 1-3 0-0 2, Jyheim Spencer 9-12 4-4 22. Totals 27-73 25-31 84.
Camden CC
41
38-
79
Salem CC
49
45-
84
3-point goals: Camden CC 3-7 (Hollingsworth 1-1, Williams 0-1, King 1-2, Blalock 1-3); Salem CC 5-25 (Powell 1-6, Ramos 1-9, Brewington 1-5, Taylor 1-2, Woolford 1-2, Spencer 0-1). Rebounds: Camden CC 39 (Hightower 12, Campbell 10); Salem CC 42 (Spencer 14) Total fouls: Camden CC 24, Salem CC 17.
Women’s Game
CARNEYS POINT — The Salem CC women knew well before Christmas what they needed to do when they returned from the holidays in order to make the Region XIX playoffs.
They had to go three games over .500 in their remaining 15 games and were probably going to lose one of the winnable games off the schedule because Morris paused its season. It seemed a tall task for a team that won its first three games of the season, but that was the bed they made for themselves.
That made Tuesday night’s first game of 2025 imperative to get. It almost got away from them, but the Mighty Oaks got it nonetheless, holding off Camden CC 61-55 to start the new year right.
“It was a huge first step for us, especially in the new year, trying to get that win,” Mighty Oaks coach Brian Marsh said. “We’ve got a game on Thursday and a game on Saturday, trying to go 3-0 this week and obviously it starts with this game.
“I don’t like to look ahead, but this is a game we had to have for our playoff aspirations, for sure.”
The Mighty Oaks (5-6) didn’t look like a team that hadn’t played since Dec. 17 at the outset. They jumped out to an eight-point halftime lead and led by 17 late in the third quarter, then they had to hold on for dear life.
They shot only 19 percent from the floor in the quarter and the Cougars took advantage of it, bringing the margin all the way back to three before Nyaijah Jackson sealed it with three free throws in the final 11 seconds.
Jackson, a 55-percent free throw shooter this season, went 5-of-10 from the line for the game and finished with 13 points, 12 rebounds and five assists. Marsh called her a “tough basketball player who wants to do whatever it takes to win.”
“I just had to take my time,” the freshman guard from Wilmington said. “We needed those free throws. I tried to make them count. The crowd was talking a lot of stuff.”
Akira Chambers also had a double-double for Salem with 14 points and 14 rebounds, while Maggie St. Clair (13) and Kathryn Laurence (10) also scored in double figures. Julie Maldonado (11/12) and Katelyn Burns (10/10) had double-doubles for the Cougars (12-4).
After the win, the Mighty Oaks (5-6) now must go 8-6 the rest of the way to snag a spot in the Region XIX playoffs. It may be 7-6 if they lose a second game off the schedule with Morris, a team that seems to have abandoned the season.
Marsh said it’s doable.
“I think so,” he said. “I honestly said to my team I think we’re going to make a run. It’s starting to come together. Our energy and our execution is starting to come together. I just think we’re going to be a team don’t want to play right now.
“I think we ended the year (2024) very strong and we’re starting very strong, so I think it’s going to be a team if we put everything together for January we’re going to be a tough out in February.”
SALEM CC WOMEN 61, CAMDEN CC 55 CAMDEN CC (12-4): Erica Paranzino 3-12 6-6 12, Brianna Kemble 5-22 1-4 11, Katelyn Burns 5-8 0-0 10, Clara Pons de vall Ruiz 3-7 0-1 7, Julia Maldonado 3-12 4-4 11, Isabella Boyle 2-12 0-0 4. Totals 21-73 11-15 55. SALEM CC (5-6): RayNescia King 1-5 0-2 2, Kathryn Laurence 4-8 0-0 10, Jakayla Jenkins 4-10 1-2 9, Akira Chambers 7-12 0-2 14, Alexa Hopkins 0-7 0-0 0, Nyaijah Jackson 4-13 5-10 13, Maggie St. Clair 5-13 3-4 13, Daniella Gustin 0-2 0-0 0. Totals 25-70 9-20 61.
Camden CC
12
12
11
20-
55
Salem CC
16
16
18
11-
61
3-point goals: Camden CC 2-10 (Kemble 0-2, Ruiz 1-3, Maldonado 1-5); Salem CC 2-15 (King 0-3, Laurence 2-5, Hopkins 0-3, Jackson 0-2, St. Clair 0-2). Rebounds: Camden CC 40 (Maldonado 12, Burns 10); Salem CC 53 (Chambers 14, Jackson 12). Fouled out: Kemble. Total fouls: Camden CC 19, Salem CC 17.
Tuesday girls roundup: Penns Grove doing more with less, focusing on quality over quantity; Cummings has a career double-double
GIRLS GAMES Clayton 72, Salem Tech 45 Glassboro 65, Schalick 15 Penns Grove 58, Overbrook 19 Pitman 48, Salem 33
By Al Muskewitz Riverview Sports News
PENNS GROVE – Look across the court to any bench at a high school basketball game. You’ll see a long row of chairs stretching from the scorer’s table to the end line. You won’t find an empty seat and both sides of the pre-game layup line stretches all the way to the mid-stripe.
And then you’ve got a team like the Penns Grove girls. The Red Devils have taken a minimalist approach to their game, where less is more. They played six players Tuesday and that was more than plenty to take down Overbrook 58-19.
“It tells me my kids have heart, fight and determination,” coach Jennifer Denby said. “It’s not about quantity, it’s about quality, and we have girls who can play the game.”
It’s a team that reminds many of the Penns Grove squad two years ago that went all the way to the South Jersey Group I semifinals with a seven-man roster, a Magnificent Seven.
“We have a handful (of players), but like I keep telling them we have the quality,” Denby continued. “We have 100 percent genuine, authentic players on our team. And that’s all we need, and we’re good with that. I just want them to compete on a higher level.”
“The numbers don’t matter,” sophomore center JaNiyah Cummings said. “You can have like 30 people and still be losing. If you have a good team, a good team where you have connection, and you can move the ball then you can do anything, honestly.”
One thing about a small roster, there’s a lot of opportunity for big games individually and the Red Devils had a lot of quality performances against the Lady Rams.
RaNiyah Wilson continued her march towards 1,000 points with a game-high 24. The senior guard now has 787 career points and is on pace to hit the milestone Feb. 8 against Glassboro. Perhaps sooner if she picks up one certain aspect of her game.
“She is a big scorer and I keep telling her play defense,” Denby said. “If you play defense, you get easy buckets. The teams we play who are not as fortunate like we are, she should get 30 and 40 points if she plays defense. Defense is the key for getting her 1,000 points.”
That was very much in evidence during one brief stretch in the second half. Wilson scored the last basket of the third quarter and the first basket of the fourth both after stealing inbounds passes and turning them into driving layups.
But the big games didn’t just stop with her.
Brianna Robbins had nine points and 10 rebounds. Mikayla Washington had four points and grabbed 13 boards.
But the biggest game belonged to Cummings. She had a career day, scoring 18 points and grabbing 17 rebounds. Her previous career high was 13 points last year against Pennsville. Her best game this year was 12 in a double-double against Pleasantville.
“I don’t know what it was, I got this spark of energy and I just wanted to play,” she said. “I just wanted to play and I wanted to win.”
“Cummings is a true student-athlete; she is my AP girl,” Denby said. “Regardless if she’s going through a lot of negative things, Cummings still comes to perform and she stands on her own. It takes a lot for an individual to stand on their own. Cummings does that day in and day out, and I take my hat off to her.”
Cover photo: RaNiyah Wilson (5) and JaNiyah Cummings (24) had two of Penns Grove’s biggest games against Overbrook Tuesday.
Penns Grove takes a step forward even though it comes at the expense of a loss; Pennsville splits with Cumberland
BOYS GAMES Eastern 56, Penns Grove 43 Cumberland 70, Pennsville 49 GIRLS GAME Pennsville 61, Cumberland 25
By Al Muskewitz Riverview Sports News
PENNS GROVE – His young team had just taken another loss to one of the bluebloods it schedules early in the season to teach and toughen for the road ahead. The loss in itself would be enough to dampen a day that still had a lot of left in it, but Penns Grove coach Damian Ware didn’t feel all that bad and told his team that after the loss’ initial sting wears off it shouldn’t either.
The Red Devils absorbed a 56-43 loss to an Eastern team now on an eight-game winning streak Saturday. It came less than a week since they took their lumps in a 30-point loss to St. Augustine on the Wildwood boardwalk, but this one felt different.
In the St. Augustine game, the Red Devils fell behind and the deficit just kept growing. Saturday against the Vikings they fell behind after taking a lead out of the gate, but instead of watching the gap grow larger, they kept it in a manageable range.
It did get to be a 20-point game midway through the third quarter, but the Red Devils brought it back to 10 early in the fourth.
“We’re still getting there,” Ware said. “The thing is, against St. Augustine the lead went from 10 to 15 to 20 to 30; it kept building. Today, it got to 20 and we cut it back down. That shows me that we’re growing and we’re getting better.
“I’m not happy with the loss, but I’m proud of the effort.”
The roadmap for this one is pretty easy to follow. The Red Devils started fast. They scored the first 10 points of the game and for a brief moment gave rise to the idea they might be able to pull off the upset.
But the Vikings finally got on the board a little more than halfway through the first quarter and the fortunes of both teams quickly turned. The Vikings went on a 16-2 run that carried into the second quarter to take control and after Nasir Benjamin turned into a one-man wrecking crew at the end of the quarter they had a 13-point halftime lead. That’s a 23-point swing over the last 13 minutes of the half.
“One of the keys to the game with this team was they’re a Group 4 squad and they’re very, very solid, so we knew we had to execute on offense,” Ware said. “That’s exactly what we did to start the game: We executed. We ran a couple sets, we got the open shot and we knocked the shots down.
“Later in the first quarter they went to a little 2-2-1 press and we started going too fast. We started pressing a little bit. Instead of staying calm and making the right play we started to try to put our head down and just drive through guys that are 6-5. Not gonna happen when we’re 6-foot.”
Brandin Robbins and Roman Gipson played big roles in the Red Devils’ fast start. They opened the game with 3-pointers and then each had a layup. Robbins’ layup was a scoop in traffic that looked more like a softball pitch at the basket, but it went in as one of those circus shots teams need to hit that give rise to an upset.
Robbins cooled off, but Gipson stayed hot. He led the Red Devils with a career-high 21 points. Whenever it looked like the Vikings were about to pull away, Gipson or Antoine Robinson hit a bucket to keep it from getting too far out of reach. Robinson had 11 points
Gibson is averaging 12.5 points a game this season, but he’s had 40 points in his last two games.
“Gipson’s starting to play,” Ware said. “I’ve been trying to get him to play like this for two years now and now he’s finally starting to get downhill and he’s playing with supreme confidence.
“That;s the thing about Roman. When he plays with confidence and he plays strong, he’s tough to deal with because he has a lot of moves. And as the kids say, ‘he’s got a deep bag.’ He’s got a deep bag of tricks. If he uses them and learns how to implement them at the right time he’ll be very successful.”
Sean Karbach led Eastern with 15 points. Jake Tulman and Kaedon Harper had 10 points apiece. Chase Huggard had eight points seven rebounds, seven assists and six of the Vikings’ 15 steals. Connor Henry didn’t score, but he had nine rebounds.
3-point goals: Eastern 3 (Tulman 2, Dawson); Penns Grove 4 (Robbins, Gipson 2, Robinson). Rebounds: Eastern 33 (Henry 9, Huggard 7, Karbach 6); Penns Grove 22 (Frisbee 5, Robinson 4). Total fouls: Eastern 15, Penns Grove 7.
CUMBERLAND 70, PENNSVILLE 49: The Colts used a big second half to pull away from a tight game and hand the Eagles their third straight loss.
The Eagles led 28-27 at halftime, but it was all Cumberland in the second half. Kaleb Green scored 14 of his 24 points and Pat Crawford 11 of his 19 after halftime. And Kevin Fiorani scored seven of his nine second-half points in the third quarter.
“We just ran out of gas,” Pennsville coach Joe Mecholsky said.
Mason O’Brien did all he could to keep Pennsville in it. He had all 16 of the Eagles’ points in the first quarter and finished with a career-high 28 points and is now averaging 16.2 ppg through the team’s first six games.
The Eagles made a couple shots in the first half that left the impression that this was going to be their day.
O’Brien hit a 3-pointer from the right corner that gave Pennsville its first lead, then hit an off-balanced one right before the buzzer to tie the game at 16. The second 3 touched off a 13-point run that gave the Eagles a 10-point lead with 4:20 left in the first half. Their first basket of the second quarter was C.J. McDevitt’s equally acrobatic throw that made it through the hoop.
Perry Meranti’s bucket off an inbounds pass put Pennsville up 26-16. At that point the Colts went to a zone and it changed the game. Cumberland used it to spark an 11-0 run to retake the lead. Jovanni Rios stopped the run and gave the Eagles a 28-27 halftime lead, but it didn’t stop the Colts’ momentum. They outscored Pennsville 43-21 in the second half.
“We just couldn’t penetrate the zone, couldn’t outshoot the zone, couldn’t do the things we needed to do to beat the zone, so the zone took them home,” Mecholsky said. “(His team) showed a lot of heart after getting beat by 50 the night before coming back to the gym the next day ready to work and were doing the things we wanted to do, we just weren’t able to continue that for four quarters.” CUMBERLAND (2-6) – Kaleb Green 8 7-7 24, Jay Davis 3 0-0 6, Kameron Fiorani 0 2-2 2, Pat Crawford 8 3-5 19, Major Martin-Dunn 1 0-0 2, Troy Collins 2 0-0 4, Khalif Dawkins 1 0-0 2, Kevin Fiorani 4 1-1 9, Sincere Sadler 1 0-0 2. Totals 28 13-15 70. PENNSVILLE (1-5) – Mason O’Brien 9-23 6-8 28, Jovanni Rios 5-6 1-4 11, Cole Johnston 2-4 0-0 5, Shiloh Jefferson 0-1 0-0 0, C.J. McDevitt 1-2 1-2 3, Perry Meranti 1-1 0-0 2, Daniel Knight 0-2 0-0 0, Jacob Miller 0-0 0-0 0, Logan Hitt 0-1 0-0 0, Noah Owen 0 0 0, Griffin Hern 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 18-40 8-14 49.
PENNSVILLE 61, CUMBERLAND 25: The Eagles jumped out to a big lead and placed four scorers in double figures for the first time this season while winning its third game in a row.
The Eagles got their expected scoring from their Big Three – Marley Wood (17), Nora Ausland (14) and Taylor Bass (12) – but this time added fourth to the mix. Freshman Addie Johnston, a 5-foot-7 freshman, scored a career-high 12 points.
The last time they had four scorers in double figures in a game was a Feb. 9, 2024 win over Millville – Wood (12), Ausland (11), Bass (10) and Bella Farina (13).
Johnston scored only 20 points in her previous five games, but had 16 in her last two. Four times Saturday she ran the floor leading the transition and finished with the layup. Interestingly, all four games in which she has scored this season, the Eagles (4-2) have won.
“She’s really coming into her own,” Pennsville coach Steve Merritt said. “She is not playing as a typical freshman. Not free of freshman mistakes, but clearly playing at a higher level than most her age. I foresee an exceptional future/career.” PENNSVILLE (4-2) – Taylor Bass 5 0-0 12, Marley Wood 8 0-0 17, Nora Ausland 5 1-2 14, Jaida Burns 1 0-0 2, Addison Johnston 5 0-0 12, Izzy Saulin 0 0-2 0, Sofia Belitsas 0 0-0 0, Ashlyn Fredo 1 0-0 2, Kylie Harris 1 0-0 2. Totals 26 1-4 61. CUMBERLAND (3-6) – Isabella Albert 0 0-0 0, Elizabeth Pflieger 1 0-0 2, Addison Weist 4 0-0 9, Ellie Bodine 1 1-2 4, DeMyra Spence 1 0-2 2, Gabby Albert 2 0-0 4, DaNya Gould 0 0-0 0, Aleena Fennal 0 0-0 0, Kamila Ramos 1 0-0 2, Mikaylah Piccioni 1 0-0 2, JaLynn Brown 0 0-0 0. Totals 11 1-4 25.
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