After finishing its regular season with the best record in the country, Salem CC returns to No. 1 in JUCO Division III basketball rankings

By Al Muskewitz
Riverview Sports News

CARNEYS POINT – The Salem CC men’s basketball team heads into postseason play back as the No. 1 team in the country.

The Mighty Oaks were returned to the top spot in the JUCO Division III rankings after completing their regular season with the best record in the country (29-1).

They jumped Dallas College Richland (now No. 4) and Riverland CC (now No. 5).

‘Ii’s a good selling point for recruits,” Mighty Oaks coach Mike Green said. “We already had the target, it’s not really a bigger one because we’ve been that all year long. It’s just good. It looks good on paper. It looks good to these guys who worked all year for it.”

The Mighty Oaks held the top spot for six weeks before falling to No. 3 after suffering their only loss of the season at Brookdale, ironically a game whose prep was interrupted by a snowstorm.

“I’ve been thinking about that,” Green said. “Even if we’ve got to go outside we’re going to practice. Snow, weather, we’ve got to do it.”

Since the loss, however, they have nailed down the overall No. 1 seed in the upcoming Region XIX tournament and will open postseason play Wednesday or Thursday with a home game against Ocean CC, a team they put 100 on twice during the season.

“I think they responded well, I think they responded well in that game as well,” Green said. “There were a couple games I didn’t think we looked as sharp, but I think the last two or three were like we’re probably supposed to look.”

A win over Ocean will send the Mighty Oaks to Northampton CC Saturday to play either Camden or No. 8 Montgomery for an automatic bid to the national tournament in Herkimer, N.Y.

The No. 1 ranking also will make it difficult to deny them one of four at-large bids to the nationals if they lose along the way.

“It gives people something to think about,” Green said. “That’s another thing that’s the beauty of ending the No. 1 team. It gives the committee something to think about regardless of what happens.

“It’s a tiny bit of security. It also allows you if you go ahead and win the championship you’ve gotta be pretty much the No. 1 overall seed.”

JUCO DIVISION III RANKINGS
1. SALEM CC (29-1), 2. Northern Essex (27-3), 3. Dallas-Eastfield (20-8), 4. Dallas-Richland (20-8), 5. Riverland (26-2), 6. Dallas-North Lake (19-10), 7. Dutchess (23-4), 8. Montgomery County (19-4), 9. Northampton (24-4), 10. Ridgewater (20-5), 11. Virginia Peninsula (21-6), 12. North Country (24-3), 13. Genesee (20-7), 14. Union (22-8), 15. Herkimer (18-6).

Also receiving votes: Brookdale, Anoka-Ramsey, Joilet.

Salem CC pulls down overall No. 1 seed in region/district tournament, two wins away from auto bid to nationals

By Al Muskewitz
Riverview Sports News

Salem CC, as expected, pulled down the overall No. 1 seed and one of two top seeds in the Region 19 tournaments that will send teams to the JUCO Division III national tournament and will play one home game to get a shot at the trip.

The once-beaten, third-ranked Mighty Oaks (29-1) are the No. 1 seed in the North Atlantic A district tournament and will play either Ocean CC (15-12) or CC Philadelphia (14-12) in Dupont Fieldhouse in their tournament opener Tuesday at 6 p.m.

The winner advances to district championship game at Northampton CC Saturday to play either seventh-ranked Montgomery (19-4) or Camden (17-12) for the automatic berth to the national tournament in Herkimer, N.Y. 

“I haven’t seen anything yet, but that’s the reward you get for handling business all year long,” Mighty Oaks coach Mike Green said. “i kind of wish the No. 1 seed gets to host as well. I think that would be a good thing for the league; it makes it a lot more interesting through the regular season. But No. 1 seed is the work we put in, you get rewarded for it at the end, but you’ve still got to go out there and win games.”

By placing in the A District bracket, the Mighty Oaks avoid No. 10 Northampton, No. 14 Union and Brookdale, the team that handed them their only loss – all 20-win teams. Northampton, as the No.2 overall seeds, tops the North Atlantic B field.

Green isn’t selling anyone short.

“It doesn’t really matter,” he said. “I think the league is tough top to bottom. Like Ocean is a very dangerous team. Montgomery is a dangerous team. Bergen. All those teams that were flirting with .500 down there are really dangerous teams.”

If they lose somewhere along the way officials familiar with the selection process told Riverview Sports News they are still expected to receive an at-large bid to the nationals for their season’s body of work. They had the best overall regular-season record in Division III, were ranked No. 1 for six weeks before losing to Brookdale, won the GSAC by a wide margin and are among the highest scoring teams in the nation.

They lead the country in total points and shooting percentage, are second in assists per game and third in points per game. Five scorers average in double figures. Saaid Lee is ranked third individually in assists. Zyaire Gibson is second in 3-pointers.

REGION 19 BASKETBALL BRACKET
North Atlantic A
Saturday’s game
Philadelphia at Ocean
Tuesday’s games
Philadelphia-Ocean winner at Salem CC
Camden at Montgomery
Feb. 28
At Northampton CC
Championship game, 3 p.m.

North Atlantic B
Tuesday’s games
Union at Brookdale
Bergen at Northampton
Feb. 28
At Northampton
Championship game, 6 p.m.

Salem CC women’s basketball program looking for new coach after Marsh resigns after three seasons, tumultuous 2025-26

By Al Muskewitz
Riverview Sports News

CARNEYS POINT – Brian Marsh has resigned as Salem Community College’s women’s basketball coach after three seasons and a tumultuous 2025-26 campaign. He will remain as the assistant director of financial aid for the college.

Marsh came into the program as an assistant coach and recruiter when the school brought the program back for the 2023-24 season and was handed the team that August when the original coach left before the Mighty Oaks played their first game.

He had a 23-43 record, with a high-water mark of 11 wins last season.

“It was a very difficult decision,” he said. “I’ve been very committed to this program to get thing up and running … it just became two full-time jobs. My coaching’s supposed to be a part-time job and I was doing 60-70 hours a week for the past couple years.

“With recruiting and getting this program started and everything that’s going on it just became very difficult. Obviously, with it being a very frustrating year this year … I just figured it was time to kind of move on and enjoy life. Everything that happened in my life this year (including the loss of his mother and brother) I just thought maybe it was a good time to kind of move this thing on … There’s a quote I saw that sort of goes here: Even lions get tired.”

The athletics department will begin a national search immediately for Marsh’s successor, but there is no timetable on naming his replacement. The job should have some appeal. The college recently added football and volleyball to increase its visibility. Marsh said he had 22 applicants in his most recent search for an assistant coach.

“We’re very grateful for the time and the commitment that Coach Marsh gave to the Salem Community College’s women’s basketball program,” athletics director Bob Hughes said. “His passion and commitment to the young women here was truly remarkable.”

This year’s team went 3-17 and suspended the season with three games left following the arrest of four players that left it without enough player to field a competitive team. They only had eight available players as it was.

The season also was impacted by the postponement of three midseason games when injuries cut into the roster and other off-court issues.

“We strive to create a great student-athlete experience for every student-athlete in every program here at SCC,” Hughes said. “Clearly we fell short of that having to end the season early and we’ll work to make sure the team is given every opportunity to complete the seasons moving forward.”

Even as the turmoil churned, Marsh, 54, always expressed hope he would be coaching the team next season and was actively recruiting locally for it.

“It was a frustrating season,” Marsh said. “Coach Kia (trainer Kiarrah Johnson) did an excellent job of keeping our girls healthy, but when you have eight girls and we just couldn’t keep them healthy it was a balancing act.

“I give my team a lot of credit. My players fought hard and they wanted to finish this thing like I did, and I gave them a lot of credit for that. We easily could have packed it in, there were teams that packed it in in January, but we kept fighting and kept fighting. Obviously at the end we just didn’t have enough players and it was very disappointing.

“It was just a very frustrating year on that end. You try to keep fighting and fighting, eventually it gets to a point where you don’t want to put your players in danger or get them out there playing 40 minutes so they even get more injured. It was one of the those things that unfortunately was out of my hands, the circumstances. The players played hard every game. We could have had a much different season had we been healthy.”

No. 3 Mighty Oaks beat Camden to clinch best record in Region 19, basically clinching top seed in region/district Division III tournament, seeding Feb. 19

By Al Muskewitz
Riverview Sports News

CARNEYS POINT — The Salem CC basketball team reached another major milestone in an already historic season Thursday night when it put together another big second half and pulled away from Camden 76-48.

The official line is the third-ranked Mighty Oaks (28-1) simply clinched the best record in Region 19 Division III with their sixth straight win. Yeah, try selling that to them.

In their mind, they clinched the No. 1 seed in the league, one of two No. 1s in the upcoming Region 19/North Atlantic District Tournament.

“It’s a representation of all the work we’ve been putting in to this point,” freshman Nasseem Wright said. “We’re a new group of guys, we all trust in playing together. It’s just cool to see all the hard work that we’re putting in is paying off. Still more to gp though.”

It’s hard to argue the logic. The Mighty Oaks are 15-1 in Region 19 with one game remaining. In the unlikely event they lose Saturday’s regular-season finale against Sussex (8-21) and Northampton beats Camden to create a 15-2 tie at the top of the standings, the Mighty Oaks beat Northampton head-to-head, which should give them the advantage in any tiebreaker.

Region 19 basketball chairman Jack Sullivan, the athletics director at Morris, said Thursday the tournament field will be seeded based on the standings. It will be seeded Feb. 19. 

Before Thursday’s games there were 10 teams in the mix that would be split into two separate five-team brackets (North Atlantic A & B) for the region’s two automatic berths in the national tournament in Herkimer, N.Y. Teams must be .500 or better either overall or in region play to qualify.

That’s what makes grabbing the No. 1 so appealing.

“We aren’t the only ones having a good year, so it’s good to clinch it,” Green said. “Matchups matter. Those 8-9-10 teams, Bergen, Atlantic Cape, they’re nothing to play with. We know this league is dangerous.”

There’s a strong belief that even if the Mighty Oaks stumble on the way out they’ll still get an at-large bid to the nationals.

What have they done so far? Won the GSAC. Check. Surpassed last year’s win total. Check. Clinched the top seed. Check.

“I want to go 3 for 3,” leading scorer Jarrell Little said. “Conference, Region 19 and national championship.”

They started out Thursday as if they were going to have an easy time with the Cougars (17-10), who traditionally have been anything but easy for them. They jumped out 14-0 in the first four minutes and later 19-7 on a 3-pointer by Saaid Lee, but then went flat and didn’t hit another field goal until another Lee 3-pointer with 4:57 left in the half and had to hold on for a 28-25 halftime lead. 

“There’s no way you score 14 points in four minutes and then 14 points in 16 minutes; that’s just not us, man,” Green said. “We guarded. They only had 25 (at halftime). We just didn’t do the right things offensively.”

“I think we just got too selfish and complacent,” Lee said. “We just had to get back to what we do, playing our brand of basketball, sharing the ball, playing hard, playing fast.”

After Green “kind of straightened them out” at halftime with what Lee called “a conversation,” they got with the program.

The scored nearly twice as many points than they did in the first half and shot 53 percent from the floor. After not scoring at all in the first half, they bench gave them 13 points in the second. And they continued to play solid defense, holding the Cougars to 28 percent shooting and 23 points.

They went back up by eight at the start of the second half, but the Cougars cut it back to 37-34 with 16:23 to play. At that point the Mighty Oaks came back to life and returned to the form that had gotten them where they are today.

Wright, held to five points in the first half, scored 13 of their first 18 points of the second half, including a thunderous run-out dunk off a Little blocked shot that made it 46-34 with 11:38 to play. Six minutes later they were up 19.

Lee hit back-to-back 3-pointers from the right corner to make it 60-41 with 5:30 left. Wright and Lee scored 20 points apiece. Little had 16. Idris Rines grabbed 12 rebounds.

“First half I was gassed, I’m not gonna lie,” Lee said. “A lot of teams in the league don’t really work as hard as us and do as much as we do, so when we’re tired we always tell each other if we’re tired they gotta be dead, so just keep pushing through, keep fighting through the adversity.” 

NOTES: The 48 points by Camden were the fewest allowed by the Mighty Oaks in Green’s 81 games as head coach … With his 16 points, Little surpassed 500 for the season and is now 26th on SCC’s all-time scoring list. Wright moved to within eight of the milestone … Saturday’s regular-season finale is Sophomore Day. “Maybe we’ll let the sophomores coach since they’ve got all the answers,” Green said . “Let Mike (Goodwin) coach. Let Nayeem (Johnson). Let Stef (Phillips) coach. It’s a celebration for them, hopefully we do something nice for them and send those guys out the right way” … Phillips expects to be back in uniform Saturday after missing the last three games with a sore knee … Never let it be said that Green doesn’t give the people what they want. With 2:38 to go the student section called for Green to put Goodwin in the game. The coach sent him in 1:43 left and the sophomore stayed in until the end. “Kid works hard every day in practice, he’s improved a ton, so he deserved the opportunity. Every chance we get ,we’re going to put him out there.”

SALEM CC 76, CAMDEN 48
CAMDEN (17-10): Kai Gatson 3-12 0-0 7, Ben McGonigle 0-3 0-0 0, ZhaMere Crawford 2-11 0-0 4, Christian Durham 3-6 0-1 8, Istavan Norwood 6-12 4-5 16, Stephen Robinson 2-3 0-0 4, Anthony Edwardi 1-3 0-0 2, Kevin Satchell 1-8 1-2 3, Sami Singletary 1-4 1-4 4. Totals 19-62 6-12 48.
SALEM CC (28-1): Jarrell Little 4-6 5-6 16, Saaid Lee 8-15 0-0 20, Zyaire Gibson 2-8 0-0 5, Nasseem Wright 8-12 4-5 20, Idris Rines 1-6 0-1 2, Jahseir Sayles 1-5 0-0 2, Qua Smith 2-2 0-0 2, Nayeem Johnson 3-9 1-2 7, Mike Goodwin 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 29-64 10-14 76.

Camden	25	23-	48
Salem CC	28	48-	76

Region XIX Standings

DIVISION III	R19	ALL	GSAC	GAMES LEFT
x-SALEM CC (3)	15-1	28-1	20-1	Sus, Sat
x-Northampton (8)	14-2	22-4		Cam, Sat; TS, Tu
x-Brookdale (RV)	14-3	19-8	13-5	Union, Sat; Sus, Tu
x-Montgomery (9)	13-3	18-4		RC-G, Sat
x-Camden	12-4	17-10	12-9	NH, Sat; Mercer, Tu
x-Union (13)	12-5	20-8	11-4	Brk, Sat; RC-C, Tu
x-Bergen	10-7	15-12	15-11
x-Ocean	9-7	14-12	10-10	Luz, Sat
Atlantic Cape	8-8	12-14	9-9	HACC, Sat; Pas, Tu
RCSJ-Cumberland	7-9	10-16	8-12
x-Philadelphia	6-10	13-11		Pas, Sat; Sus, Wed
RCSJ-Gloucester	6-10	10-19	4-16
Thaddeus Stevens	5-10	10-14
Harrisburg Area	5-10	6-16
Delaware County	3-14	5-20
Sussex	2-13	8-21	4-13
Passaic	2-14	4-23	3-15
Luzerne	1-14	4-21

Number in parenthesis is JUCO Division III national ranking; games left in italic are region counters; x-clinched playoff berth

THURSDAY’S GAMES
Salem CC 76, Camden 48
Misericordia at Harcum
Montgomery 81, Northampton 61
Frederick 92, Delaware Tech 85
Manhattan CC at Bergen
Brookdale 87, Ocean 69
Union 83, Passaic 79
Philadelphia 81, Delaware County 58
Lackawanna 82, Raritan Valley 68
Bergen 80, Atlantic Cape 66
Harrisburg Area at Thaddeus Stevens
RCSJ-Cumberland 84, RCSJ-Gloucester 79
FRIDAY’S GAME
Delaware County at Luzerne
SATURDAY’S GAMES
Sussex at Salem CC
Passaic vs. Finger Lakes
Union at Brookdale
Atlantic Cape at Harrisburg Area
RCSJ-Cumberland at Thaddeus Stevens
Northampton at Camden
RCSJ-Gloucester at Montgomery
Ocean at Luzerne
Raritan Valley at Morris
Passaic at Roxbury
Lackawanna at Delaware Tech
Ulster at Middlesex
Philadelphia at Passaic
Harcum at Mercer