After a cold first half, Ramos hits 5 3-pointers to spark run that lifts Salem CC past Delaware County CC for first season-opening win since 2021

By Al Muskewitz
Riverview Sports News

CARNEYS POINT – Mike Green doesn’t hold back when he says Josh Ramos could easily be the top 3-point shooter in the league, region or any other classification you want to put the Salem Community College basketball team in. And the sophomore shooter did nothing to dispel his coach’s confidence in Saturday’s season opener, especially in the second half.

Ramos nailed five straight 3-pointers – each farther out than the next – during a four and a half minute stretch midway through the second half that gave the Mighty Oaks control of their 81-73 win over Delaware County CC at the DuPont Fieldhouse.

It was their first win in a season opener since 2021-22 when they beat the Eastern University JV 67-56.

“He’s just like a little microwave,” Green said. “He’s a spark. He’s a big spark.

“Once you see one go through you’d better come back to him again. You probably have to come back to him for the next four minutes until he’s burnt up. He’s one of those type players you’ve got to go right there to him.”

And that’s exactly they did. Ramos was just 1-of-4 from behind the arc in the first half as teams battled to a 35-35 draw, but he got hot after halftime, going 5-for-5 during a 19-7 run that took the Oaks from 48-45 down to 64-55 with 9:45 to play. He finished with 18 points.

“The first half, I don’t know, I could tell it was long, but I came into the second half mentality-wise like I’m going to keep my head up, get in the game and if he started me for the second I came here (and started hitting),” Ramos said. “My teammates were finding me, I was just letting it go and the confidence just kept building. As the half went on … we won.”

He went bang-bang-bang on three straight possessions, tying the game, putting the Oaks up for good and extending the lead. The fourth came from out near the Salem logo. 

“After I hit the first four it was no-brainer, I was just letting it go,” he said. “Shooters shoot, that’s all I can say.”

“He should have had more, he should’ve had eight,” Green said. “We need to do a better job of finding him.”

Ramos was one of the best 3-point shooters in the region last year, hitting 60 of 146 in 23 games (41.1 percent) and 42 of 96 in conference play (42.9). He was sixth in the league in number and top 10 in percentage playing six fewer games than the leader. He wants to be the No. 1 3-ball in the league.

He was 8-of-20 in six games before Green became the Oaks’ coach shortly before Christmas, but flourished in the role after the change. He had one three-game stretch in early February in which he went 18-of-31.

“Anytime Josh’s on the floor, we’re going to Josh,” Green said. “Everybody knows it. We had a meeting. I told them we only run plays for three people and really it’s only Josh. They know. The team knows.”

If Ramos’ goal is to be the No. 1 3-point shooter in the league, A.J. Jones’ goal is to be the No. 1 defensive player. He got off to a impressive start Saturday. He had 14 points – all in the first half – but also had several several steals, assists and rebounds and did what Green called a “wonderful” job on Delco’s Darrius Best, holding one of the region’s best guards to 14 points on 5-of-19 shooting.

It was his steal and layup in the final 10 seconds that earned the Oaks their 35-35 halftime draw.

“He didn’t play well in our last scrimmage and I challenged him,” Green said. “We challenged him big time and he responded.”

Saturday’s game kicked off a busy week for the Mighty Oaks. They play three games next week in doubleheaders with the women’s team and play their first seven games in their House of Pane.

“It can give great confidence, but it can give false confidence, too, because it’s a different game on the road and we saw that last year,” Green said. “It was tough on the road. But I’ll the other side of it, I’ll take the confidence.”

SALEM CC 81, DELAWARE CO. CC 73
DELAWARE CO. (1-1) – Cameron Daut 1 2-2 4, Jabree Martin 6 2-2 16, Omar Davis 5 3-5 13, Evan Vandelti Spahr 3 1-1 8, Jaquan Fisher 3 3-4 9, Darrius Best 5 2-2 14, Luke Bushra 0 0-0 0, Tahmeire Manning 1 2-4 7, Amir Wilson 0 0-0 0, Stephen Rosemin 1 0-0 2. Totals 25 15-20 72 71.
SALEM CC (1-0) – Dontarius Jones 1 1-2 3, Niame Scott 1 7-8 10, Tyrese Fortune 2 1-2 5, Tyrone Tolson 2 0-0 5, Rodney Shelton 1 1-2 3, Julien Jones 0 1-2 1, A.J. Jones 6 0-1 14, Josh Ramos 6 0-0 18, Xavier Brewington 4 3-4 12, Stefan Phillips 3 2-2 8, Sami Anderson 1 0-0 2. Totals 27 16-23 81.

Delaware Co. CC	35	38–	73
Salem CC	35	46–	81

3-point goals: DCCC 6 (Martin 2, Vandelti-Spahr, Best 2, Manning); Salem 11 (Tolson, Brewington, A. Jones 2, Ramos 6, Scott).

Cover photo: Josh Ramos puts up one of his five second-half 3-pointers in Salem CC’s season-opening win.

Salem CC women’s basketball has ‘historically busy’ offseason, signing eight players, two assistants

By Al Muskewitz
Riverview Sports News

CARNEYS POINT – Brian Marsh has had an “historically busy” offseason, as busy as any the Salem CC women’s basketball coach can remember as a player, coach or manager. And it was all in the name of bringing his program up to speed with the competition and on the map.

Marsh has spent the last few months scouring the landscape to bring aboard players and assistant coaches that will provide flexibility in games and even conduct proper practices.

He has brought in eight new players – four bigs and four guards – and a pair of assistant coaches to give the Mighty Oaks full complements in each area.

Last year he was recruiting to build a brand new program, at least one that hadn’t fielded a team in 10 years, and this year he was basically doing the same, but with the benefit of a product to show the prospects he was chasing.

“You remember the team last year,” Marsh said. “I only had eight, so I didn’t have enough to go 5-on-5 (in practice), so me and the assistant coach had the jump in. I wanted not only the players to be 5-on-5, but in case something happened I wanted some numbers.”

No chance of being short now. The goal was to get bigger, more physical, more athletic and more sure-handed, and with this bunch he’s done that, giving him 13 players (with maybe one more to come) for what he considers his first full year as head coach.

The bigs:

Imara James, 5-11, Bridgeton. The first commitment in the class to get the ball rolling and a projected power forward considered a nice steal.

Akira Chambers, 5-11, Cleburne Texas. A strong rebounder who can take charge inside and still shoot out to 15 feet.

Daniella Gustin, 6-0, Houston. Long and athletic, a combination of James and Chambers who could have a immediate impact. Attended the same Texas high school as Mighty Oaks softball player KC Garcia.

Jolee Robinson, 5-9 , Delta, Colo. Coming to Salem to play softball alongside her sister Jill Robinson, but also was a strong basketball player in high school.

“We had to get bigger,” Marsh said. “We needed to do a better job on rebounding and our interior defense. I told the team I needed to do a better job of getting them in positions to succeed. I thought we were small, we’re going to play fast, but we’d get outrebounded by 30 rebounds a game sometimes and it’s really hard to win games like that. So, my first priority was to go big. We got big.”

The guards:

Imirah (MyMy) Trader, 5-5, Wilmington. College transfer with two years of eligibility. Led A.I. Dupont is points, assists, steals as a senior. She played on the boys varsity as a sophomore when her school cancelled the girls season because of COVID. 

Ny’Aijah Jackson, 5-9, Wilmington. Versatile player who led A.I. Dupont in rebounds and was second in assists, steals and blocked shots looking forward to reuniting with Trader.

Ray’Nesecia King, 5-4, Dallas. Blue-collar defensive specialist who brings the toughness to set up and break the press.

Genovanna (Gia) Tjaden-Smith, 5-9, Wilmington. A long, athletic wing from Delaware Military Academy who can play multiple positions.

“Once I got my rebounding and my interior defense, one of the other things we needed to get better at was our ballhandling and setting up the press and breaking the press,” Marsh said. “We just didn’t have enough ballhandlers.

“I loved my players from last year’s depth, but we needed some toughness and that’s what we got. Last year we just didn’t have the numbers to press. I want to play an up-tempo style, I want to press; we just didn’t have the numbers last year. I have the numbers now.”

Kiara Eubanks and Garret Sample are the two new assistants. Eubanks was a four-year player at Wilmington and an assistant on that staff last year. Eubanks was a senior manager and women’s basketball practice player at Temple – just like Marsh – and he’ll work with the guards.

“They know what it takes to play at a high level,” Marsh said.

The pieces seem to be in place. Now, it’s just a matter of finding the right combinations and going to play a schedule that includes 16 home dates.

“To be really honest I was hoping after we recruited last year what I was going to do was have five new incoming players, but with the way things worked out I realized that wasn’t going to be enough,” Marsh said. 

“It was definitely easier recruiting this year because we have a team and people can go on our website and see what we have,. It’s easier once you set the table already. Last year it was hard to recruit … because we don’t even have a team yet. They set the table. It’s time to eat.”