Here are the district tournaments that will earn automatic bids to the NJCAA Division III national tournament March 11-14 in Herkimer, N.Y.; four at-large teams also will be selected
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).
DISTRICT TOURNAMENTS
North Atlantic A (Feb. 26-28) Salem CC 80, Ocean 60 Montgomery 85, Camden 65 Saturday’s game at Northampton No. 1 Salem CC vs. No. 8 Montgomery, 3 p.m.
North Atlantic B (Feb. 26-28) Brookdale 73, No. 14 Union 62 Northampton 72, Bergen 64 Saturday’s game at Northampton Brookdale vs. No. 9 Northampton, 6 p.m.
East (Feb. 26-March 2) No. 2 Northern Essex 94, Bristol 67 Quincy 85, Springfield Tech 65 Roxbury 80, Massasoit 70 Friday’s games Northern Essex 101, MassBay CC 74 Quincy vs. Roxbury Sunday’s game Northern Essex vs. Quincy-Roxbury
Mid-Atlantic (Feb. 27-28) Joliet 88, Penn Highlands 67 No. 11 Virginia Peninsula 98, Allegheny County 56 Sunday’s game Joliet vs. Va. Peninsula, 12:30 p.m.
North (Feb. 27-March 1) No. 13 Genesee 88, Tompkins Cortland 71 Mohawk Valley 76, No. 15 Herkimer 75 (OT) No. 12 North Country 77, Hudson Valley 73 Onondaga 80, Adirondack 77 Saturday’s games Genesee vs. Mohawk Valley North Country vs. Onondaga
Northeast (Feb. 25-March 1) No. 7 Dutchess 93, LaGuardia 75 Hostos 80, Nassau 71 Sullivan 65, Queensborough 61 Monroe Bronx 64, Borough of Manhattan 53 Saturday at Suffolk County CC Dutchess vs. Hostos, 5 p.m. Sullivan vs. Monroe Bronx, 7:30 p.m.
North Plains (Feb. 26-March 1) Central Lakes Brainerd 82, St. Cloud T&C 79 No. 10 Ridgewater 108, Minn North Rainy River 84 No. 5 Riverland 108, Minn. North Mesabi Range 56 Anoka-Ramsey 81, Northland T&C 71 Friday’s games Ridgewater 105, Central Lakes-Brainerd 97 Riverland 85, Anoka-Ramsey 75 Sunday’s game Ridgewater vs. Riverland
South Central (Feb. 25-28) No. 6 Dallas North Lake 84, Dallas Mountain View 76 Dallas Brookhaven 85, Dallas Cedar Valley 75 Friday’s games Dallas Brookhaven 51, No. 4 Dallas Richland 50 Dallas North Lake 82, No. 3 Dallas Eastfield 78 Saturday’s game Brookhaven vs. North Lake, 4 p.m.
UPDATED: Salem CC’s startup volleyball program lands its first csignee, a local product from Salem Tech, and awaits approval of two assistants
By Al Muskewitz Riverview Sports News
Andrea Bartlett has spent the last three months building the new Salem CC volleyball program from scratch. Going places, seeing people, molding the program to her vision.
BARTLETT
Now that she has a player in the fold, it finally feels like she has a team.
The Mighty Oaks’ newest women’s program and their coach landed their first official signee and she’s coming from a lot closer than originally anticipated.
Their first player is Tiara Bazemore, an all-conference setter from Salem Tech.
“It’s super exciting to have a local athlete here at Salem,” Bartlett said. “Volleyball’s not a sport that’s hugely popular in South Jersey, so I’m super excited to find a home for those local athletes to come play at the next level.”
Bazemore is excited about being the program’s first signee, too.
“I think it’s a surreal feeling,” she said. “When you’re in high school you’re always thinking about playing to the next level and now that I have the opportunity it feels nerve-wracking but exciting. I can’t wait to play at the next level with SCC and I believe we’re going to have a first good season.”
It was anticipated the Mighty Oaks’ first signee would be a right-side setter from South Florida, but Bazemore’s paperwork beat her to the punch. The Mighty Oaks are still in on that player and anticipate this initial signing will open the door to a lot more.
“Now that I’ve signed my first one, I’ve had so much built up, now it’s finally coming to fruition,” Bartlett said. “Now I’m starting to get more contacts from people finally following up with me. It’s all finally coming together it feels like.”
Similarly, the two assistants she’s bringing on, Courtney Gallo and Mike Kerns, are going through the hiring process. Gallo is former Chestnut Hill setter from Wilmington and Kerns is a swim coach at Camden Academy Charter.
When it comes to players, ideally Bartlett would like to have a minimum of 10 to 12 players for her first season in the fall – two for each position – but it won’t really feel complete until she gets enough for an initial starting seven and then, she said, “I can really start getting into the nitty gritty of it.”
Bartlett was hired in November and brings a wealth of experience and success on the Delaware high school and club circuit. Athletics director Bob Hughes called her “the perfect coach” to launch the program.
The team will compete in the four-team Region 19 Division II – with Delaware Tech (Bartlett’s JUCO alma mater), Harcum and Morris, effectively replacing Lackawanna, which is moving to NCAA Division II – and look to play a 20-match first-year schedule. Several of the region’s Division III teams in South Jersey already have expressed an interest in playing.
The idea of starting her first program is both exciting and scary.
“To start it from the beginning you’re able to set the standards and the culture,” she said. “When you go into a program with athletes who are already there they are used to old coaching styles or what the culture used to be or these rules we used to have and I get to start from scratch so I could think of what do I want to do, what kind of environment do I want to create to make these athletes want to come play here and then we can just build from that.
“I don’t have to worry about what was previously done. I get to start it from the beginning. It’s a lot of pressure on me because it’s my first program and making sure I do set those right standards, but along with them growing Ill also grow and learn, too, and we’ll figure out kind of together what works and what doesn’t and build the program together.”
While it wasn’t necessarily planned to land a setter as her first commitment, it was a fortuitous happenstance. Bazemore recorded 173 assists this past season with 23 kills and 43 aces. She had 262 assists over the past two seasons.
“It is nice to know that I have a setter,” Bartlett said. “Having a setter first and picking up at least a couple in the beginning because that’s who’s essentially running my offense. And knowing I have at least one on the list is important.”
Because the Mighty Oaks are a true start-up, the focus of Bartlett’s first year will be on team culture, which means teamwork, growth and resilience. It’s not dissimilar to the way she develops a new bunch of players for her 17U club team who likely haven’t played together before.
“It’s all about finding kids with character,” Barlett said. “I can teach you volleyball … but it’s really hard to teach character. I’m trying to find kids who are willing to buy in and be all in for the team and not just for their own personal goals and be willing to put in the hard work.”
Top-ranked Mighty Oaks use a big second half to get past Ocean, will play for North Atlantic District title Saturday at Northampton
REGION XIX TOURNAMENT North Atlantic District A Salem CC 80, Ocean 60 Montgomery 85, Camden 65 North Atlantic District B Brookdale 73, Union 62 Northampton 72, Bergen 64 Saturday’s district finals At Northampton Salem CC vs. Montgomery, 3 p.m. Northampton vs. Brookdale, 6 p.m.
By Al Muskewitz Riverview Sports News
CARNEYS POINT — In playoff basketball, a lot like in golf, they don’t ask you how, they just ask how many.
It really doesn’t matter what it looks like wire-to-wire at this time of year as long as you win and advance to the next round.
Salem CC wasn’t at its top-ranked sharpest for a good part of its Region XIX playoff game Thursday night, but the Mighty Oaks were playing like the winningest team in the country when it counted most and got past Ocean 80-60 to earn a spot in the North Atlantic District A title game Saturday and a shot at a guaranteed return trip to the JUCO Division III national tournament.
The Mighty Oaks (30-1) will play Montgomery County (20-4) for one of two district titles up for grabs at Northampton Saturday. A win in that game not only will get them a second straight district crown, but the likely No. 1 seed in the national tournament.
“It’s the way you build a team,” Salem coach Mike Green said. “We’ve got so many players that try to wear you down and bring the next group in.
“The first half I didn’t think our bench played well. The second half they did what they were supposed to, so we looked even better. That’s how we are by design. We want to have a lot of different weapons. First half, they (Ocean) did what they were supposed to. They’re a good team, very talented, so we expected their best shot. I know that team is good, but I also know my guys, too.”
Ocean (16-13), the No. 8 seed, gave Salem a battle for 27 minutes and for a time it seemed if the Mighty Oaks didn’t get it together they’d have be in for some anxious days awaiting the tournament selection committee’s four at-large bids to the nationals. But, just as they have many times this season, they flipped the switch and won the game going away.
They had put 100 on this team twice this season, but trailed 50-49 with 13:03 to go in the second half. Playing in front of the biggest home crowd of the year, they came out of a timeout there and ran out the Vikings 31-10 the rest of the game.
During that stretch, the Mighty Oaks held the visitors to 3-for-21 shooting and turned them over seven times.
Saaid Lee and Nayeem Johnson combined for five steals in the early part of the run, including one where Lee dove and stripped Ocean’s AJ Lemons at midcourt and got it to Jarrell Little for a layup-and-one that gave them a nine-point lead.
“That was a big energy play,” Lee said. “I feel like that changed the momentum of the game.”
“The first half we were kind of slow – we turned the ball over a little too much – but the second half we came out with the right energy and we got the job done. I just saw we needed intensity and my job as point guard is to pick the intensity up and make sure everybody’s at 100 percent, so I just tried to lead by example.”
“All week we were preaching defense,” freshman Idris Rines said. “Ocean’s the second-leading (scoring) team behind us, so we knew we just had to defense. We executed that end of it, we just kept turning the ball over.”
The Mighty Oaks foreshadowed the run late in the first half when they held the Vikings to seven straight empty possessions to fuel a 9-0 run that gave them a 31-23 lead 3:55 before halftime. But the Vikings collected themselves and answered with their own 9-0 run to retake a 32-31 lead with 1:33 left.
When Ocean flowed into the dressing room up 34-33, it marked only the second time since Jan. 1 the Mighty Oaks had trailed at the half. The other time was in their loss to Brookdale.
“Every team we play we’re going to get their best shot,” Rines said. “Everybody wants to beat the No. 1 team in the country, like who wouldn’t. Us losing to Brookdale was a big loss, but I don’t think we would be at this point if we didn’t get punched in our face like that. That was a big wake-up call for us. That’s what’s helping us right now.
“We’re good at facing adversity. Once a team start sgetting up on us we don’t rush and fold and stuff like that. We keep our heads and we have a lot of trust in each other. That’s why we like this team.”
Nasseem Wright led the Mighty Oaks with 18 points and 10 rebounds despite missing a big chunk of the turnaround with foul trouble. Little had a team-high 19 points, plus eight rebounds and six assists. Stefan Phillips, playing his final home game with the program, had 11 points and Lee had 10 points, six rebounds, four assists and four steals.
Johnson scored all seven of his points in the second half. Rines finished with eight points and seven boards
SALEM CC 80, OCEAN 60 OCEAN (16-13):.Myles Marabuto 5-10 4-4 16, Jamari Smith 5-22 6-9 16, Kai Barckley 0-3 0-0 0, Aiden Sosinov 4-13 3-6 11, James Gibbons 2-4 1-2 6, AJ Lemons 2-5 0-0 4, Omar Hadid 0-1 0-0 0, Aiden Falduto 0-0 0-0 0, Jeremy Grospe 0-3 0-0 0, Mattox Watson 1-1 0-0 3, Mason Krey 2-5 0-0 4. Totals 21-67 14-21 60. SALEM CC (30-1): Jerrell Little 7-14 1-5 19, Saaid Lee 3-8 4-5 10, Zyaire Gibson 2-5 0-0 5, Nasseem Wright 8-10 1-3 18, Stefan Phillips 4-5 2-6 11, Jahseir Sayles 0-2 0-0 0, Qua Smith 0-0 0-0 0, Nayeem Johnson 2-7 3-4 7, Idris Rines 2-4 4-4 8, Mike Goodwin 1-1 0-2 2. Totals 29-56 15-29 80.
Ocean
34
26-
60
Salem CC
33
47-
80
3-point goals: Ocean 4-23 (Marabuto 2-6, Smith 0-1, Barckley 0-3, Sosinov 0-2, Gibbons 1-2, Lemons 0-3, Hadid 0-1, Grospe 0-2, Watson 1-1, Krey 0-2); Salem CC 7-21 (Little 4-9, Lee 0-2, Gibson 1-4, Wright 1-1, Phillips 1-1, Sayles 0-1, Johnson 0-1, Rines 0-2). Rebounds: Ocean 33 (Smith 10, Sosinov 10); Salem CC 43 (Wright 10, Rines 7, Little 8). Total fouls: Ocean 19, Salem CC 19.
Salem’s Jarrell Little reaches in to pick the pocket of Ocean guard Jamari Smith in the second half of Thursday night’s Region XIX/North Atlantic District playoff game. Top photo: Zyaire Gibson comes out to disrupt the shot of Ocean’s Myles Marabuto.
Here is the Salem County sports schedule for the week of Fev. 23-28; all events subject to the weather; first-round South Jersey Group I basketball tournament games now on Friday
WEDNESDAY, FEB. 25 COLLEGE BASKETBALL Region XIX/North Atlantic District A Tournament Ocean at Salem CC
THURSDAY, FEB. 26 BOWLING NJSIAA Top 100, Lucky Strikes, North Brunswick
FRIDAY, FEB. 27 BOYS BASKETBALL South Jersey Group I Tournament Riverside at Salem, 5 p.m. Paulsboro at Woodstown, 5 p.m. Glassboro at Burlington City, 6:30 p.m. Wildwood at KIPP, 6 p.m. New Egypt at Haddon Twp., 7:30 p.m. Pitman at Penns Grove, 4 p.m. Audubon at Woodbury, 5:30 p.m. Gateway at Palmyra, 6 p.m. GIRLS BASKETBALL South Jersey Group I Tournament Paulsboro at Haddon Twp. Burlington City at Woodbury New Egypt at Palmyra Cape May Tech at Glassboro Salem at Audubon, 5 p.m. Woodstown at Pennsville, 5 p.m. Schalick at Gateway, 5 p.m. Clayton at Wildwood BOWLING Group I Championship At Lucky Strikes, North Brunswick Salem vs. Kinnelon, 9 a.m. Middlesex vs. Rutherford, 9 a.m. Title match to follow COLLEGE BASEBALL Ocean at Salem CC, 3 p.m.
SATURDAY, FEB. 28 INDOOR TRACK NJSIAA Group I Championship, Toms River WRESTLING NJSIAA District Tournament COLLEGE BASKETBALL Region XIX/North Atlantic District A&B finals, Northampton CC COLLEGE BASEBALL Salem CC at Ocean (2), noon
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
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.”
Salem CC baseball opens its season with doubleheader sweep at Bryant & Stratton (Va.); LeBold has homer, 6 RBIs in opener, String homers in nightcap
By Al Muskewitz Riverview Sports News
VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. – Apparently, not having been outside to practice all winter didn’t affect the Salem CC baseball team much.
LEBOLD
The Mighty Oaks, stuck inside since the biggest snowstorm in a decade three weeks ago still had the area looking like the frozen tundra, opened their season Monday with a 10-6, 6-2 sweep of Bryant & Stratton, a team that has already played 11 games. Both wins were come-from-behind affairs.
It marked their first doubleheader sweep to open the season since the revival of the program, their first Opening Day win since 2023 and their third Opening Day win since 2020.
The Mighty Oaks had concerns about not being outside, but coach John Holt reminded them they have played the game before and to keep things as simple as possible once they did get on the field.
“They’ve caught a thousand ground balls and a thousand fly balls in their lifetime and all I’m looking for is them to just keep routine routine,” Holt said before the trip.
The hitters didn’t have a problem. Sophomore outfielder Jason LeBold had a big day. He had seven RBIs in the doubleheader and had the go-ahead RBI in both games.
He drove in six in the opener. He hit a three-run go-ahead homer in the second inning after the Bobcats dropped an inning-ending third strike the batter before, hit a two-run single in the fourth and drove in a run with an infield out in the sixth. In the nightcap, he broke a 2-2 tie in the fourth with an RBI double.
Former Woodstown standout Rocco String made his first college hit a big one, launching a three-run homer in seventh inning of the nightcap.
Tyler Hacker had two doubles and an RBI in the opener and two singles and an RBI in the nightcap. He also closed out the opener on the mound with a game-ending double play. Actually, the Mighty Oaks ended both games with a double play.
The Mighty Oaks are off now until Feb. 27 when they open Region 19 play at home against Ocean. Perhaps by then the snow will be gone.
Here is the Salem County sports schedule for the week of Feb. 15-22
SUNDAY, FEB. 15 INDOOR TRACK South Jersey Group I Sectionals at Bennett Complex, 9 a.m.
MONDAY, FEB. 16 WRESTLING Cedar Creek at Salem, 10 a.m. NJSIAA Team Tournament At Paulsboro Buena vs. Paulsboro, 5:30 p.m. Pennsville vs. Schalick, 5:30 p.m. Winners to follow At Audubon Haddon Twp. vs. Woodstown, 5 p.m. Maple Shade vs. Audubon, 5 p.m. Winners to follow COLLEGE BASEBALL Salem CC at Bryant & Stratton (Va.)
TUESDAY, FEB. 17 BOYS BASKETBALL TCC Tournament Championship Bracket Timber Creek at Kingsway Deptford at Overbrook Cumberland at Delsea Williamstown at Salem, 5 p.m. Consolation game Woodstown at Penns Grove, 5:30 p.m. Postseason Bracket Clayton at GCIT Glassboro at Triton Wildwood at Pitman Highland at Washington Twp. GIRLS BASKETBALL TCC Tournament Championship Bracket Delsea at Gloucester Catholic Clearview at Timber Creek Kingsway at Glassboro Washington Twp. at Wildwood Consolation game Woodstown at Triton, 5:30 p.m. Postseason Bracket Pitman at Schalick Salem at Williamstown Clayton at GCIT Penns Grove at Deptford
WEDNESDAY, FEB. 18 WRESTLING Pennsville at Pennsauken, 6 p.m. Team Sectional Finals BOYS BOWLING South Jersey Group I Tournament Salem vs. Doane Academy, Wood Lanes, 3 p.m. Asbury Park at Camden Catholic
THURSDAY, FEB. 19 BOYS BASKETBALL TCC Tournament Championship Bracket Timber Creek-Kingsway vs. Deptford-Overbrook Cumberland-Delsea vs. Williamstown-Salem Postseason Bracket Clayton-GCIT vs. Glassboro-Triton Wildwood-Pitman vs. Highland/Washington Twp. GIRLS BASKETBALL TCC Tournament Championship Bracket Delsea-Gloucester Catholic vs. Clearview-Timber Creek Kingsway-Glassboro vs. Washington Twp.-Wildwood Postseason Bracket Pitman-Schalick vs. Salem-Williamstown Clayton-GCIT vs. Penns Grove-Deptford Consolation game Cumberland at Pennsville, 4 p.m. WRESTLING Salem at New Egypt, 5 p.m.
FRIDAY, FEB. 20 BOYS BASKETBALL Camden County Tech at Salem Tech, 5:30 p.m. GIRLS BASKETBALL Medford Tech at Salem Tech, 4 p.m. WRESTLING St. Joseph (Hamm.) at Salem, 5 p.m. Penns Grove at Cherry Hill West, 6 p.m. State Team Semifinals
SATURDAY, FEB. 21 BOYS BASKETBALL TCC Championship, Washington Twp., 11 a.m. GIRLS BASKETBALL TCC Championship, Washington Twp., 1 p.m. BOYS BOWLING South Jersey Group I Championship WRESTLING Pennsville, Ewing at Pt. Pleasant Beach, 10 a.m.
SUNDAY, FEB. 22 TRACK NJSIAA Group Championships, Bennett Center, 9 a.m.
Sophomores rule the day as No. 3 Mighty Oaks wrap up regular season with 104-69 win over Sussex, await Region 19 tournament seedings, but should get Ocean-Philadelphia winner
By Al Muskewitz Riverview Sports News
CARNEYS POINT — There’s never been a game Stef Phillips wanted to make it back for more in his entire career than Saturday’s regular-season finale.
The Salem CC forward has been out with a sore knee the last three games and tried all the rehab humanly possible to make sure he was back for Sophomore Day.
Not only did he return for the festivities, he came back in a big way, posting his second career double-double to help the Mighty Oaks crush Sussex 104-69 to complete an historic regular season that saw them ranked No. 1 for six weeks and claim the overall No. 1 seed in Region 19.
He scored a career-high 15 points and grabbed 10 rebounds in 21 minutes. It was his first double-double since the second game of last season.
“After I hurt my knee it was like in the air if I would play or I wouldn’t,” Phillips said. “I made sure I came to rehab every day with the mindset of me getting back, not for this game particular but any game, playoffs or anything.
“Yesterday at practice I felt great. I felt like myself. I woke up this morning happy. I knew for sure I was playing and I played my heart out, too.”
It was a good day for three sophomores, who are guaranteed one more game in Dupont Fieldhouse as a semifinal host in their region tournament bracket. Crowd favorite Mike Goodwin, a Penns Grove native who coach Mike Green called “the ultimate team guy,” earned the first start of his college career and had career highs in points (five) and rebounds (10). Nayeem Johnson scored a game-high 18 points on 7-of-8 shooting in 15 minutes off the bench.
“The sophomores played really well; they combined for some heavy power,” Green said. “It’s good the sophomores go out with a bang.”
Phillips was active from the start. He scored the first basket of the game on an aggressive putback of a Goodwin miss and had another putback a few minutes later. He scored six of the Mighty Oaks’ first 13 points and had 11 points and nine rebounds at halftime.
“We challenged him to go out there and rebound,” Green said. “He can score the ball . We tried to get him to go out and rebound and he had nine in the first half. He was supposed to be on minutes restriction, but he was playing so well I kind of forgot about it. He gave us what we need.”
Goodwin’s start wasn’t just a token gesture, a tradition to reward time served and out at the first dead ball. He played the first five minutes before giving way to leading scorer Jarrell Little, but that wasn’t the end of his day.
He played a career-high 15 minutes, much to the delight of the student section that began calling him back with eight minutes left in the game. His teammates were working to get him in the scoring column and everyone in the building let out a roar when he finally got one to fall with 4:08 left. It was such an exhilarating experience he followed it with a layup-and-one on the next possession.
He might have even gotten a double-double if he were a little sharper around the basket.
“I never thought I’d start,” he said. “I just thought to be ready whenever my name is called and just perform when it is. But it definitely felt good. You hustle, you work, it felt like all the work, it paid off to finally start.
“I was definitely in my head the first couple shots. I wasn’t finishing through contact and I was a little discouraged, but I tried to pick myself up at halftime. I’ve just got to learn to keep working through it.”
He wasn’t in the game to lead the Mighty Oaks in scoring. His greatest asset is as a rebounder.
“I may not be the best scorer, but I know to hustle and try to get ball off the rim,” he said. “That’s one of my strong suits. I’m going to keep on grabbing the boards.”
Every player who got in the game for the Mighty Oaks scored and seven finished in double figures. All but one grabbed at least one rebound.
They wrapped up the regular season 29-1 and will be one of the No. 1 seeds when Region 19 seeds the two region/district tournament next week. They are projected to face the winner of the play-in game between Ocean and Philadelphia) in their home tournament opener, which will be the sophomores’ final home game.
The Skylanders (8-21) made it hard on Salem early. It was 26-24 when Qua Smith, Nasseem Wright and Phillips returned to the game after a Sussex timeout with 7:37 left in the half. Over the next five minutes the Mighty Oaks outscored the visitors 19-5 to take control of the game.
Phillips had a 3-pointer and another putback in the run.
“Just wearing guys down … and the results show,” Green said. “Sometimes it takes a whole half and it has been lately.”
SCATTERED ACORNS: It was the 13th time this year the Mighty Oaks have hit 100 and the fourth time they have had seven scorers in double figures … They are 14-0 at home this year and have a 21-game home winning streak … They rank first in JUCO Division III in total points, third in scoring average. They’re also first in field goal percentage and assists per game.
SALEM CC 104, SUSSEX 69 SUSSEX (8-21): Nico Sosa 9-22 1-1 20, Isaiah Bivens 3-7 4-4 12, DJ Baker 2-6 2-3 6, Elijah Geary 3-5 1-2 7, Ryan Geene 5-10 4-4 16, Liam DeLorenzi 0-5 0-0 0, Liam Dunn 3-9 0-0 8. Totals 25-64 12-14 69. SALEM CC: Saaid Lee 5-9 2-2 13, Zyaire Gibson 4-9 0-0 10, Nasseem Wright 7-8 0-0 15, Stefan Phillips 7-11 0-0 15, Mike Goodwin 2-8 1-1 5, Jahseir Sayles 2-8 0-0 4, Jarrell Little 1-7 1-2 3, Qua Smith 4-5 2-2 10, Nayeem Johnson 7-8 2-2 18, Idris Rines 5-10 0-0 11. Totals 44-83 8-9 104.
Sussex
32
37-
69
Salem CC
47
57-
104
3-point goals: Sussex 7-20 (Sosa 1-3, Bivens 2-4, Geene 2-4, DeLorenzi 0-3, Dunn 2-6); Salem CC 8-26 (Lee 1-2, Gibson 2-6, Wright 1-1, Phillips 1-3, Sayles 0-5, Little 0-4, Johnson 2-2, Rines 1-3). Rebounds: Sussex 26 (Bivens 7, DeLorenzi 5); Salem CC 49 (Phillips 10, Goodwin 10, Smith 7). Total fouls: Sussex 8, Salem CC 13.
Salem CC’s three sophomores (L-R) Mike Goodwin, Stefan Phillips and Nayeem Johnson combined for 48 points and 23 rebounds on Sophomore Day.
Region XIX Standings
DIVISION III
R19
ALL
GSAC
x-SALEM CC (3)
16-1
29-1
21-1
x-Northampton (8)
15-2
23-4
x-Montgomery (9)
14-3
19-4
x-Brookdale (RV)
14-3
19-9
13-6
x-Union (13)
12-5
21-8
13-4
x-Camden
12-5
17-11
12-9
x-Bergen
10-7
15-12
15-11
x-Ocean
10-7
15-12
10-10
Atlantic Cape
8-9
12-15
9-9
Thaddeus Stevens
7-10
12-14
RCSJ-Cumberland
7-10
10-17
8-12
RCSJ-Gloucester
6-11
10-20
4-16
Harrisburg Area
6-11
7-17
x-Philadelphia
5-11
13-12
Delaware County
3-14
5-21
Passaic
3-14
5-23
4-16
Sussex
2-14
8-22
4-14
Luzerne
2-15
5-22
Number in parenthesis is JUCO Division III national ranking; games left in italic are region counters; x-clinched playoff berth
SATURDAY’S GAMES Salem CC 104, Sussex 69 Union 69, Brookdale 45 Harrisburg Area 78, Atlantic Cape 75 Northampton 77, Camden 62 Montgomery 89, RCSJ-Gloucester 76 Ocean 111, Luzerne 95 Morris 68, Raritan Valley 66 Lackawanna 79, Delaware Tech 61 Passaic 76, Philadelphia 65 Harcum 64, Mercer 62 Thaddeus Stevens 85, RCSJ-Cumberland 78 Middlesex 90, Ulster 56
PROJECTED REGION 19 SEEDS 1. Salem CC, 2. Northampton, 3. Brookdale, 4. Montgomery, 5. Camden, 6. Union, 7. Bergen, 8. Ocean, 9. Philadelphia
PROJECTED MATCHUPS North Atlantic A Ocean-Philadelphia winner vs. Salem Camden at Montgomery North Atlantic B Union at Brookdale Bergen at Northampton Winners advance to finals at Northampton
