Salem CC men rally after scary injury to their captain, pull away from winless Bergen with big second half; Mighty Oaks women drop fourth straight in loss to Raritan Valley

By Al Muskewitz
Riverview Sports News

CARNEYS POINT – Josh Ramos stood motionless out of the floor watching the medical professionals attend to teammate and captain Niame Scott in the foul lane in front of the Salem Community College bench. For the first time ever on a basketball court the Mighty Oaks sophomore guard felt helpless.

The entire gym went silent when Scott fell to the floor with a fractured right knee early in the second half of a Saturday game that was closer than the teams’ records said it should be. Play was delayed 22 minutes as trainers, team staff and eventually EMTs worked to stabilize the sophomore from Philadelphia and make him as comfortable as possible before taking him off the floor on a gurney and transporting him to a nearby hospital.

The home side wasn’t playing all that well before the mishap as winless Bergen was giving them all they could handle. But the Mighty Oaks’ mindset changed following the injury. They now had something – somebody – to play for.

They hit five 3-pointers in the first five minutes after play resumed and wound up scoring 61 points in the second half en route to a 97-68 victory.

“The whole thing was just to go out there and win the game for him,” Ramos said. “Mentally it definitely took a toll. We just had to turn it around. We just all knew we had to show up for him.” 

The Mighty Oaks (8-2) had just taken a 45-44 lead on A.J. Jones’ bucket. On Salem’s next trip down the court Scott missed a short shot looking to extend the lead, went in for the rebound, then fell to the floor in agony after his foot lodged against the foot of a Bergen player. He immediately clutched his right leg.

It was initially believed Scott had only dislocated the knee, serious enough but an injury that would have given him a chance to return this season. Tests later determined it to be fractured. 

It’s the latest in a growing number of injuries to hit the program. The Mighty Oaks already were missing four players with ankle/foot issues.

“It is a sad moment,” Ramos said. “He’s one of our main guys. It’s a big loss to our team.”

Scott was the team’s fourth-leading scorer (8.6 ppg) and second on the team in assists (21), but his presence provides a lot more than stats.

“He’s a big part of the team,” Mighty Oaks coach Mike Green said. “We have him doing a lot more than last year, we’ve asked him to play a lot harder, and he’s responded.”

Now as Scott recovers, Green said the team is “going to cover him with love, the greatest healer.”

Up to the point of the injury, it looked like the Mighty Oaks would have trouble scoring 75 points against the winless Bulldogs (0-10). They weren’t taking great shots in the first half and the ones they were taking they weren’t hitting. But Scott’s injury spurred them to action.

Ramos, who didn’t hit a shot in the first half, made four straight 3-pointers in the 19-2 barrage that followed the resumption. The Mighty Oaks shot 57 percent from the floor in the second half and were 8-of-16 from 3-point range. They were only 14-of-36 from the floor and 3-of-16 from 3 in the first half while falling behind 37-36 at halftime. They shot 17-of-28 after the injury to their captain.

“I knew with him going down it is a big loss, I had to step up personally,” Ramos said. “I knew I came out 0-for-4, 0-for-5 going into the half. I knew I had to step up, step into my role. We just got it going. You’ve just got to play harder, you’ve got to give it your all knowing that someone’s down and we came out with the win.”

The 61 points were the Mighty Oaks’ second largest one-half output this season, behind only the 62-point second half in the season opener against Delaware County that established their persona as a second-half team this year. 

Seven of the 10 Mighty Oaks who played in the game scored in double figures. Xavier Brewington (17 points, 10 rebounds) and Rodney Shelton (12/12) both had double doubles. A.J. Jones had 14 points, Ramos 12, Tyrone Tolson and Stefan Phillips 11 apiece and Tivon Woolford 10. Shelton and Ramos scored all their points in the second half.

“It’s more of what we preach: Next man up,” Green said. “The next person’s got to be ready to play. We play a lot of guys. It’s always going to be next man up.”

The game got off to a balky start with Green calling back-to-back timeouts in the first 45 seconds of the game. It wasn’t something he saw on the court that bothered him as much as it was something he wasn’t going to see.

The Mighty Oaks’ lost their Hudl connection for recording the game and player highlights. Green sprinted back to the locker room during the first full timeout to find a solution, then called a 30-second timeout when he returned to the bench, not to implant any strategy that should’ve gone in the first TO, but to make sure the fix was installed properly.

“I would have burned a couple more if it had taken longer,” Green said. “We can’t miss this. This is these kids’ livelihood. Whatever they do well, they need to have it documented (for recruiting purposes).

“Every second needs to be documented; it’s that serious. The line is that short, so we wanted to make sure the kids get everything they can.”

Women’s game

RARITAN VALLEY CC 79, SALEM CC 63 – The Mighty Oaks women needed a win badly. They had lost their last three after opening the schedule with a three-game winning streak and were in danger of falling below .500 for the first time this season.

Coach Brian Marsh knew Saturday’s game with Raritan Valley was going to be a tight one and it was for three quarters. There were two bad stretches that them in.

The Mighty Oaks nearly recovered from the first one, but not from the second. In the span of about three minutes in the fourth quarter the Lions took a three-point lead to 15 and eventually handed Salem its fourth loss in a row.

The first bad stretch came in the final two minutes of second quarter when the Lions scored the last 12 points of the half after taking the lead for good with the 17th lead change of the game. 

That’s how tight it was early. Salem led after the first quarter 16-15 when RayNescia King beat the buzzer with a 3-pointer from just across midcourt and the teams traded the lead until the Lions went on their run.

“Those two probably eight minutes dictated the whole game,” Marsh said. “I let them know a game is 40 minutes, not 32 minutes, not 37 minutes. They have to focus for the full (40) minutes.

“They get down and then they work their butts off to get back in it and it’s like they don’t have the energy left to complete it.”

The Mighty Oaks were plagued by 28 turnovers (19 steals), off which the Lions scored 34 points. 

“We handled the press against (No. 4) Union much better than we did here, and that’s at home and it’s a bigger court,” Marsh said. “I think it’s a lack of focus at certain points. I’ve just got to do a better job of getting these girls to focus for 40 minutes. I really think that’s the big thing.”

Nyaijah Jackson led Salem with 14 points and seven rebounds. Akira Chambers had 10 points six boards.

Julia Fontanillo had a strong all-around game for Raritan Valley with 16 points, seven rebounds, seven assists and five steals. RV’s Sophia Larsen led all scorers with 18 points.

The Mighty Oaks won’t return to the floor until Thursday when they host Bucks County CC. They were supposed to play at CC of Morris Tuesday, but the Titans canceled due to a lack of players. Salem is looking to find a replacement game for later in the season.

MEN’S BOX SCORE
Salem CC 97, Bergen CC 68
BERGEN CC (0-10) – Amire Walker 4-14 7-11 18, Demetrius Chavis 6-14 0-2 15, Matthew Kelleher 5-11 0-0 12, Louis Sosa 3-8 4-4 11, Jayden Opio 2-9 0-0 4, Daniel Fernandez 1-3 0-0 2, Evan Meberg 3-6 0-0 6. Totals 24-65 11-17 68.
SALEM CC (8-2) – Julien Jones 0-4 0-0 0, A.J. Jones 5-9 3-4 14, Tivon Woolford 4-8 0-0 10, Xavier Brewington 6-11 2-2 17, Rodney Shelton 6-10 0-2 12, Niame Scott 1-5 2-2 4, Josh Ramos 4-12 0-0 12, Tyrone Tolson 4-7 2-2 11, Shyheed Taylor 1-3 4-8 6, Stefan Phillips 4-4 3-4 11. Totals 35-73 16-24 97.

Bergen CC	37	31-	68
Salem CC	36	61-	97

3-point goals: Bergen 9-34 (Walker 3-9, Chavis 3-8, Kelleher 2-8, Sosa 1-4, Opio 0-4, Meberg 0-1); Salem 11-32 (J. Jones 0-3, A. Jones 1-4, Woolford 2-2, Brewington 3-7, Scott 0-1, Ramos 4-11, Tolson 1-3, Taylor 0-1). Rebounds: Bergen 28 (Sosa 8, Opio 6); Salem 46 (Brewington 10, Shelton 12). Technical fouls: Salem coach Green. Total fouls: Berger 15, Salem 18.

WOMEN’S BOX SCORE
Raritan Valley CC 79, Salem CC 63
RARITAN VALLEY (5-4) – Sophia Larsen 4-14 9-11 18, Elizabeth May 2-10 0-0 6, Ona Riopedre 2-11 3-4 7, Telma Comba 3-9 3-5 9, Julia Fontanillo 7-14 2-4 16, Judith Vila 1-3 0-0 3, Paula Aguilera Ortega 0-1 4-4 4, Saionni Patrick 2-3 1-1 5, Madison Vitucci 4-4 1-1 11. Totals 25-69 23-30 79.
SALEM (3-4) – Nyaijah Jackson 4-7 6-8 14, Maggie St. Clair 2-10 0-0 5, Dani Gustin 1-2 0-0 2, Kathryn Laurence 4-8 0-0 8, Jakayla Jenkins 4-6 0-1 8, RayNescia King 2-5 0-0 5, Caroline Zullo 2-7 1-2 5, Akira Chambers 5-8 0-2 10, Alexa Hopkins 0-1 1-1 1. Totals 24-54 8-14 58.

Raritan Valley CC	15	24	15	25-	79
Salem CC	16	12	23	12-	63

3-point goals: Raritan Valley 6-24 (Larsen 1-6, May 2-9, Riopedre 0-5, Fontanillo 0-1, Vila 1-1, Vitucci 2-2); Salem 2-7 (St. Clair 1-2, Laurence 0-2, Jenkins 0-1, King 1-1, Hopkins 0-1). Rebounds: Raritan Valley 37 (Riopedre 8, Comba 7, Fontanillo 7); Salem 39 (Jackson 7, St. Clair 6, Gustin 6, Jenkins 6, Chambers 6). Fouled out: Larsen, Gustin, Jenkins. Total fouls: Raritan Valley 18, Salem 22.            

Salem CC men complete season-opening homestead 6-1 after beating Atlantic Cape; Brewington on a three-game tear

By Al Muskewitz
Riverview Sports News

CARNEYS POINT – When Coach Mike Green and Xavier Brewington got this year’s Salem CC basketball schedule and saw the first seven games of the season all were at home they genuinely thought the Mighty Oaks could go through the run undefeated.

Outside circumstances have since prevented that from happening – not by much – but they’re still in a pretty good neighbood.

The Oaks reached the end of their season-opening homestand Saturday with a 72-63 win over Atlantic Cape CC and are quite happy with the 6-1 record it produced. The only blemish is a loss to Delaware Tech. They’ve won four in a row., the longest streak since Jan. 25-Feb. 5, 2022 (five games).

“To be honest I thought we wouldn’t lose a game,” Green said. “We had a bunch of kids that we thought were going to be eligible. Think about it, there’s a 6-6 kid, a 6-5 kid, a 6-3 kid, so you’d be that much bigger and stronger.

“I was thinking 7-0, to be honest; I had hi-i-i-gh hopes, man. But where we are is great. We’re in a great place. These guys picked up the slack. We’ll be stronger in January.”
 
The Oaks strained the theory of being better shooters in the Saturday afternoon in the first half, but they came out with a different vibe in the second half that carried them to the victory.

When the Oaks guard better, they shoot better, and they did both to start the second half. They went on an impressive 21-1 run over the first five minutes of the half to turn a seven-point halftime deficit into a 13-point lead and then kept the Bucs at arm’s length the rest of the game.

They forced the Buccaneers (2-5) into six turnovers during that stretch and scored points (13) off all of them.

“During halftime we had a talk like we’re better than this and we had to push it,” Brewington said. “Coach told us we had to fight through it, it was going to be a dogfight the whole game. They’re not sweet, they’re a really good team, so we had to play as team and play harder than them.

“It’s not even halftime, it’s during the games, too. Coach is very blunt with us. He’ll tell what we need to do, what we need to get right. We take it to the chin and we’ve just got to push through it and do what the coaches tell us to do. That’s how it’s about winning.”

Brewington came off screens to hit a 3 and a 2 to give the Oaks the lead and then hit back-to-back 3s later in the half to keep the lead in double digits. The freshman scored a career-high 20 points and has scored 51 points in his last three games. 

He was 7-of-14 from the field against the Bucs and hit 5 of 9 from 3-point range against the Bucs. He also grabbed six rebounds, dealt six assists and played solid defense on the Bucs’ Christopher Parker. In his three-game hot streak Brewington is 16-of-33 from the field, 8-of-13 from 3, and 11-of-12 from the line.

“X is a good basketball player,” Green said. “He’s got to get comfortable. A too comfortable X is a danger to us. A comfortable X, a confident X, is a really, really good player. He hasn’t shown it; he’s been showing it these last (three) games. 

“He’s very comfortable and he’s confident right now. We’re trying to get the rest of our guys up there because there’s a bunch of them who can play. We’ve got to get them confident. We’ve got to get them comfortable.”

Rodney Shelton and Niame Scott also scored in double figures for the Oaks, putting up 12 points apiece. Scott also grabbed a team-high nine rebounds

The Oaks shot 41 percent overall (54-133) and 42 percent from 3-point range (28-of-67) in their two previous Saturday wins, a marked improvement from their colder hand during the midweek night games. 

But in the first half against the Bucs they were just 12-of-38 from the floor and 4-of-23 from 3-point range. They missed their last 12 shots from behind the arc.

But in the second half, shooting towards the windows that let in the daylight, they were 8-of-17 from 3-point range. Shyheed Taylor drained one from the top of the key to open the half and the Oaks were off and running. They hit four 3s in the opening salvo and six of their first nine shots overall.

Now the scenery changes. The Oaks play their next two games and four of the next five on the road.

“That might be better for us,” Green said. “I know when I played I used love being on the road, so maybe some of these guys can come out of their shell on the road.”

Salem CC 72, Atlantic Cape 63

ATLANTIC CAPE (2-5) – Deandre Brown 1-1 0-0 3, Jeremy Ellis 8-13 0-0 16, Jalen Jenkins 0-5 0-0 0, Omero Chevere 2-9 1-2 6, Christopher Parker 4-12 3-4 12, Maquaje McDaniels 3-9 2-2 9, Samir Jones 0-1 1-2 1, Ramar Cook 1-3 0-0 2, Semajah Echols 6-14 2-2 14. Totals 25-67 9-12 63.
SALEM CC (6-1) – Tyrese Fortune 2-9 0-0 4, Josh Ramos 1-4 0-0 3, Xavier Brewington 7-14 1-2 20, Rodney Shelton 6-8 0-0 12, Shyheed Taylor 1-3 3-3 6, Niame Scott 3-14 4-5 12, Julien Jones 1-1 0-0 2, A.J. Jones 1-8 2-3 5, Tivon Woolford 1-3 0-0 2, Tyrone Tolson 2-6 0-1 6, Stefan Phillips 0-1 0-0 0, Sami Anderson 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 25-72 10-15 72.

Atlantic Cape CC	35	28-	63
Salem CC	28	44-	72

3-point goals: Atlantic Cape 4-13 (Brown 1-1, Ellis 0-1, Chevere 1-4, Parker 1-3, McDaniels 1-3, Echols 0-1); Salem CC 12-40 (Fortune 0-4, Ramos 1-4, Brewington 5-9, Taylor 1-1, Scott 2-7, A. Jones 1-7, Woolford 0-1, Tolson 2-6, Anderson 0-1). Rebounds: Atlantic Cape 47 (Ellis 13, Echols 8, Parker 7); Salem CC 37 (Scott 9, Brewington 6, Shelton 6). Total fouls: Atlantic Cape 11, Salem CC 14.

Cover photo of Salem CC’s Xavier Brewington by John Holt.

Salem CC men score second-most points in the Mike Green era fueled by ‘solid-steal’ defense

By Al Muskewitz
Riverview Sports News

CARNEYS POINT – The Salem CC men’s basketball team scored 100 points for the first time this season, which was cause enough for celebration. While it takes a lot of buckets to put that many points on the board, this one was fueled by the defense.

The Mighty Oaks collected 27 steals among the 29 turnovers they forced Lancaster Bible JV into Thursday night and although the defense got a little loose late in the game it was the thing that made their 106-71 possible.

“Our guys did a good job with that today,” Green said. “We were good for certain periods. Once the lead swelled up we did some things I didn’t like, but to get that lead we did what we were supposed to do.”

The 106 points matched the second most in coach Mike Green’s 24-game tenure with the Oaks (5-1). They had that many in a win over RCSJ-Gloucester last January. Their single-game high under Green is 110 against Harrisburg Area last February.

They scored 31 points off their takeaways and, truthfully, should have had more. Appropriately, they went over 100 when Julien Jones picked Marco Labasez’ pocket near midcourt, took it the other way on a driving layup and hit and-one that came with it.

Jones and Shyheed Taylor had six steals apiece. Tivon Woolford had five. Eight of the 10 Salem players who got in the game had at least one.

“It’s good to hear those numbers,” Jones said. “Our past games we hadn’t really been playing that well defensively, so that builds our confidence coming into our next game.

“As smaller guards that’s what we got to do. When we get the chance (to play) one thing we’re going to do is play defense. One of the four things (Green) says most is ‘guard your yard.’ He puts that confidence in our head that we could play defense all the time.”

It didn’t take long for the Oaks to determine the Chargers weren’t the ballhandlers they were last season. After reading the room, Green called time two minutes into the game, plugged in the full-court pressure and the Oaks went to work.

They immediately went on an 11-0 run to take control and led by 19 at halftime. The Chargers opened the second half with a run that got them within 11, then the Oaks started finding their long-range shot and used a pair of Xavier Brewington 3s to key a response that pushed the lead to 21. At one point later in the half they turned over the Chargers on six straight possessions on the way to a 30-point lead.

“It didn’t surprise us,” Taylor said of the steals. “We work really hard. We knew we’d come together one day and get a lot of steals, play defense, score a lot. Once we come together I feel like nobody can stop us.”

The steals were only part of the story. Rodney Shelton blocked eight shots – four in each half – and altered numerous other shots. He might even have more once they break down the film. He also had 12 rebounds.

“That’s just natural; I’ve been doing that since ninth grade,” Shelton said. “My game is all through film. You’re not going to catch my stats in game in person. You’ve got to take it to the film and dissect it and realize that I blocked it.

“They went up pretty soft. As a natural shot blocker I just felt as though they took advantage of me and I just went and put it back in their hands. I’m actually proud of what I did today.”

“I really want to shout out Rodney,” Jones said. “He was blocking shots. He was defending the paint really well. He was rebounding defensively really well. My defense comes from trusting Rodney that he protects me, so shout out Rodney for that.”

Six players scored in double figures, led by Woolford’s 18. Jones had 14, Brewington 13, Tyrone Tolson and Josh Ramos 12 each and Shelton 11. Everybody who played for the Oaks scored.

The Oaks wrap up their season-opening seven-game home stand Saturday against Atlantic Cape CC (2-4), a team that swept them last year.

LANCASTER BIBLE JV (1-4) – Curtis Brosious 0-2 0-0 0, Harrison Owens 0-2 0-0 0, Antonio Osbourne 2-6 2-2 8, A.J. Switzer 6-14 2-2 15, Brock Osbourne 4-11 4-6 12, Amari Williams 1-4 0-0 3, Jaden Miller 0-0 0-0 0, Karahn Garfield 0-1 0-0 0, Caleb Mills 1-4 0-0 3, Marco Labasez 7-14 9-11 24, Noah MacCartney 1-3 0-0 2, Elijah Hogan 2-6 0-2 4. Totals 24-67 17-23 71.
SALEM CC (5-1) – Tyrese Fortune 2-7 2-2 6, Josh Ramos 5-10 0-0 12, Xavier Brewington 4-9 3-3 13, Rodney Shelton 5-9 1-1 11, Shyheed Taylor 2-4 2-3 6, Julien Jones 5-10 4-5 14, A.J. Jones 4-8 0-0 8, Tivon Woolford 8-12 0-0 18, Tyrone Tolson 4-6 2-2 12, Sami Anderson 2-6 1-2 6. Totals 41-81 15-18 106.

Lancaster Bible JV	33	38-	71
Salem CC	52	54-	106

3-point goals: Lancaster Bible 6-17 (Brosious 0-2, Owens 0-1, A. Osbourne 2-3, Switzer 1-2, Williams 1-1, Garfield 0-1, Mills 1-3, Labasez 1-4); Salem CC 9-28 (Fortune 0-1, Ramos 2-6, Brewington 2-4, Shelton 0-1, J. Jones 0-3, A. Jones 0-2, Woolford 2-5, Tolson 2-4, Anderson 1-2). Rebounds: Lancaster Bible 41 (Labasez 10, Hogan 9); Salem CC 38 (Shelton 12, Fortune 7, Brewington 7). Fouled out: Fortune, Anderson. Total fouls: Lancaster Bible 10, Salem CC 20.