No. 3 Salem CC getting back to old form, routs HACC; women fall to Delaware Tech

By Al Muskewitz
Riverview Sports News

CARNEYS POINT – Mike Green looked over the box score after another one-sided Salem CC win and saw a lot of what he liked.

The Mighty Oaks had just crushed Harrisburg Area 110-72 Thursday night for its 25th win of the season and the tale of the tape on the table before him was filled with a lot of positive numbers.

Seven scorers in double figures, 14 3-pointers (the most since November), 24 assists, a plus-10 rebound margin, a limited number of turnovers (in the second half). That’s more like it.

“We’re getting back to us,” Green said after collecting the 60th win of his coaching career. “I told them before the game we’re trending down. I feel like we’re trending down. I challenged them. And I’ll challenge them again tomorrow.

“We’re not as scary as we were early on, I don’t believe. We’ve gotta turn this up.”

The Mighty Oaks are 25-1 and ranked third in the country, but truthfully they haven’t been quite the team that was mercilessly dismantling teams on their rise to No. 1. They were winning games, but there just seemed to be something missing. It came to a head when they finally lost a game, and carried on.

They’re not the first elite team to go through a rough patch during what’s developing into a special year. Green was reminded of that earlier in the day.

“I was watching the North Carolina special today,” he said. “I was laying down before the game (and) I could hear the North Carolina special, and it put it all in perspective.

“Those guys, the team with George Lynch that beat (Michigan’s) Fab 5 (for the 1992-93 national championship, the famous Chris Webber no-timeouts game). I watched that. They had a tough time in the ACC when they lost about three or four games, and some of the things those guys were saying put the team back together. 

“You winning like that, sometimes you get burned out. Hopefully, it don’t cost us four games, but you’ve got to be at your best. They’re in college, man, they’ve got to be at their best.”

Even this one got off to a slow start. The Mighty Oaks trailed a team with a 5-15 record by nine with nine minutes gone in the game and they trailed the whole first 15 minutes.

The bench played a huge role in bringing them back. The non-starters got them back in the game in the first half, scoring just two points fewer than the starters, grabbing more rebounds and making fewer turnovers.

The bench scored 46 points in the game, shooting 17-for-26 from the field, 5-for-10 from 3-point range, and had 26 of their 46 rebounds.

At one point in the first half, right after Idris Rines finally gave them the lead on a 3-pointer with 4:54 left, Nayeem Johnson had nine straight Salem points that carried them to a 10-point halftime lead. Rines had seven points in the half and provided the Mighty Oaks steady play in the post after Stef Phillips left the game with knee injury after his three-point play six and a half minutes into the half.

“They did their job,” Green said. “A couple guys didn’t do their job early on, we had to bring them out. This ain’t a free opportunity. We don’t owe nobody nothing,. You get what you work for. Those (reserves) got an early opportunity and they did what they’re supposed to and then our guys, the ones who weren’t caught up, caught up.”

Johnson finished with 16 points. Rines had 13 points and seven rebounds. Qua Smith had 10 points and eight rebounds in 21 minutes and Jahseir Sayles had seven points and three boards in 19 minutes.

Among the starters, Nasseem Wright had a team-high 17 points, four rebounds, four assists and four blocked shots. Zyaire Gibson had 14 points (four 3s) and nine rebounds, and Saaid Lee had 14 points and nine assists.

Rines played the most minutes of any Mighty Oaks player in the game – 30. It’s the most he’s played in a game since high school. He finished with 13 points and seven rebounds.

“Me and MG talked yesterday and MG said just keep the energy up when you’re in, just play your minutes.,” Rines said. “I knew coming into Salem it was going to be a commitment going from starting (in high school) to making sacrifices.

“I think everybody makes sacrifices. We all played like 20 out of 32 minutes of high school, then coming here and splitting minutes with guys. I think we are connected with each other and our friendship makes it so we can make sacrifices and makes us a really unselfish team and that really helps us.”

Another thing that helps them is when Jarrell Little scores the ball, which he hasn’t done a lot of lately.

In his last three games the Mighty Oaks’ leading scorer has logged only 23 points on 8-for-28 shooting, 3-for 17 from 3-point range. He took only four shots in the win over Montco and 12 in the last two games.

“It’s not like a slump,” he said. “I feel like it was never gone, I just feel like I didn’t take enough shots.

“When we played Montco I didn’t shoot a lot of shots; it wasn’t me. I feel like the whole game I wasn’t myself. I didn’t shoot the ball at all. Four shots as the leading scorer is crazy and Mike Green got on me about that. It’s the second time this season I shot less shots in a big game.”

He was 4-for-10 from 3-point range against the Hawks, but 6-for-12 overall. 

“He’s our leading scorer for a reason,” Green said. “Somewhere along the line he lost that and just started dribbling the ball. He’s better when he’s in attack mode.”

The Salem starters started looking more like themselves in the second half. They original four minus Phillips had 40 of the Mighty Oaks’ 64 points after halftime. Little and Wright had 13 apiece; Little had three 3s. 

“As a team we always start off slow and pick it up at halftime,” Little said. “This time one of our coaches came in screaming at us. I feel like we just turned it on.”

SALEM CC 110, HARRISBURG AREA 72
HARRISBURG AREA (5-16): Zhamire Chaplin-Carter 0-1 0-1 0, Eli Vega 2-6 5-6 10, Jaiden Wiley 3-15 1-2 9, William Byrd 6-10 4-6 17, John McNeil 6-22 7-10 21, Dustin Littles 1-4 0-0 3, Ziveon Kyle 2-7 2-2 6, Kaden Folk 2-8 2-2 6, Duane Woodson 0-1 0-0 0, Ryan Floyd 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 22-74 21-29 72.
SALEM CC (25-1): Jarrell Little 6-12 0-0 16, Saaid Lee 6-10 2-2 14, Zyaire Gibson 5-13 0-0 14, Nasseem Wright 7-10 2-4 17, Stefan Phillips 1-3 1-1 3, Jahseir Sayles 2-6 2-2 7, Qua Smith 4-5 2-2 10, Nayeem Johnson 6-8 3-3 16, Idris Rines 5-6 0-0 13, Mike Goodwin 0-1 0-1 0. Totals 42-74 12-15 110.

Harrisburg Area	36	36-	72
Salem CC	46	64-	110

Region XIX Standings

DIVISION III	R19	ALL	GSAC
SALEM CC (3)	12-1	25-1	18-1
Northampton (10)	13-2	21-3
Brookdale (RV)	13-3	17-7	12-4
Union (9)	12-3	19-6	10-2
Montgomery (8)	11-3	15-4
Camden	10-3	15-9	10-7
Bergen	10-6	13-11	13-10
Ocean	8-6	13-10	9-8
Atlantic Cape	8-6	12-11	9-8
RCSJ-Cumberland	5-8	8-15	6-11
RCSJ-Gloucester	5-10	8-18	1-14
Philadelphia	4-9	11-10
Thaddeus Stevens	4-9	9-12
Harrisburg Area	4-10	5-16
Passaic	3-13	4-20	3-14
Sussex	2-10	7-17	4-11
Delaware County	2-13	4-19
Luzerne	1-12	4-19

Number in parenthesis is JUCO Division III national ranking

THURSDAY’S GAMES
Salem CC 110, Harrisburg Area 72
Compass Prep at Morris
Montgomery 97, Passaic 75
Essex at Monroe
RCSJ-Gloucester 79, Camden 76
Delaware County 75, RCSJ-Cumberland 72
Atlantic Cape 91, Ocean 82
Rockland 89, Lackawanna 86
Mercer 77, Middlesex 69
Northampton 73, Brookdale 67
SATURDAY’S GAMES
Philadelphia at Salem CC
Union at Camden
Bergen at Montgomery
Brookdale at Luzerne
Delaware County at Sussex
Delaware Tech at Morris
Ocean at RCSJ-Cumberland
Essex at Orange County
Mercer at Raritan Valley
RCSJ-Gloucester at Passaic
Penns State LV at Thaddeus Stevens
Lackawanna at Harcum
Northampton at Atlantic Cape
Westchester at Middlesex

Women can’t shake slide

CARNEYS POINT — The Salem women lost their fourth in a row in a winnable game that came down to too many turnovers and too many fouls.

The Mighty Oaks were charged with 32 turnovers off which Delaware Tech scored 26 points. They were hit with 26 fouls, including a pair of technicals. Del Tech was 24-of-41 from the free throw line.

Salem recovered from a cold start to tie the game at 30 with 5:22 left in the third quarter. But Del Tech (8-15) scored the next nine points and never lost the lead again. The Mighty Oaks got within four several times, but couldn’t get closer.

TJ Shaw led Salem (3-16) with 16 points and 12 rebounds. Paula Wilson had 11 points and three of their four 3-pointers. Dani Gustin had 10 points and 14 rebounds off the bench.

Del Tech’s Kai Burnett led all scorers with 30 points. She was 10-of-24 from the field, 10-of-13 from the free throw line.

DELAWARE TECH 65, SALEM CC 56
DELAWARE TECH (8-15): Bria Harker-Brown 2-11 2-4 6, Kai Burnette 10-24 10-13 30, Laila Jacobs 1-3 0-0 2, Talaney Pierce 4-15 4-8 12, Maddie August 1-8 0-0 2, Sabrina Washington 0-1 0-0 0, Aaliyah Smith 2-8 6-14 11, Ciara Whittle 0-3 2-2 2. Totals 20-73 24-41 65.
SALEM CC (3-16): RayNescia King 0-7 1-2 1, TJ Shaw 3-19 10-12 16, Kasey Oliver 3-9 2-2 8, Paula Wilson 4-13 0-0 11, Jayda Hunter 1-5 1-2 3, Justine Cardona 3-7 0-0 7, Dani Gustin 2-4 6-8 10. Totals 16-64 20-26 56.

Delaware Tech	14	11	15	25-	65
Salem CC	9	14	11	22-	56

Region XIX Women’s Standings

DIVISION II	R19	ALL	GSAC
Harcum (3)	11-0	20-1
Union (12)	11-2	20-3	8-0
Mercer (14)	10-2	18-3	5-1
Essex	7-5	15-6	4-4
Raritan Valley	4-7	8-15	3-4
Delaware Tech	4-8	8-15
Middlesex	3-9	9-16	0-6
SALEM CC	2-10	3-16	0-5
Lackawanna	1-10	4-14
Morris	0-0	0-7	0-0

Number in parenthesis is JUCO Division II national ranking

THURSDAY’S GAMES
Delaware Tech 65, Salem CC 56
RCSJ-Gloucester 70, Camden 55
Atlantic Cape 93, Ocean 67
Northampton 72, Bergen 28
Montgomery at Brookdale
Monroe 98, Raritan Valley 58
Philadelphia 70, Sussex 52
Mercer 103, Middlesex 29
Union 65, Essex 59
SATURDAY’S GAMES
Salem CC at Middlesex
Camden at Philadelphia
RCSJ-Gloucester at Passaic
Northampton at Atlantic Cape
Ocean at RCSJ-Cumberland
Essex at Orange County
Mercer at Raritan Valley
Bergen at Montgomery
Lackawanna at Harcum

No. 3 Mighty Oaks hold off Montco in Top 10 battle after dropping in the polls; women’s team loses to No. 12 Union

By Al Muskewitz
Riverview Sports News

CARNEYS POINT – All of a sudden, a midweek game against the No. 8 team in the country became the most important game of the year for the Salem CC basketball team. But they handled it, just as they have all year, albeit with a little drama in the second half.

In a game that figured to carry a lot of post-season implications and even more personal connections throughout the roster, the now third-ranked Mighty Oaks enjoyed some early success and then held off No. 8 Montgomery County 77-71.

The game was important for a number of reasons. Chiefly, it was good to have another one Top 10 win in the bank for at-large bid consideration to the national tournament if they don’t win the region/district tournament.

“Won against another good team,” Salem coach Mike Green said. “Who else beats Top 10 teams other than us? We’re the only ones kicking Top 10 teams asses around here, so hopefully the committee will look at that when they see it.”

Then there was the issue of pride. The Mighty Oaks had been No. 1 in JUCO Division III since the Dec. 15 (Week 6) poll, but falling out of the top spot after just one loss — their only loss — didn’t sit well with the players.

“I can’t speak for everybody but I know it bothered me, for sure,” said sophomore Stefan Phillips, the only holdover from last year’s national tournament team. “I love saying we’re No. 1 in the country. Seeing we’re No. 3, it bothered me. I want to be ranked No. 1.”

“I was irked by that,” Nayeem Johnson said. “I was highly upset about that because we got one loss. There’s not a lot of teams in the country that got one loss and we dropped two slots in the poll.”

When told the new No. 1 team has six losses, more than the next three teams in the poll combined, he said, “that’s crazy.”

But on top of all that, the players said this one was personal.

“No. 8 team in the nation, they beat us in the summer; that stung,” freshman Nasseem Wright said. “All our guys were freshmen and all of us never played with each other (at the time). They still won, but it was kind of personal. Those guys have been watching us all year. We knew it was going to  be a war.”

“We’re all from Philly,” Phillips said. “I knew I took it personally. They didn’t recruit me out of high school, so every time I get a chance to beat a team from Philly that hadn’t recruited me, I;m gonna take personally.”

Curiously, the one player you’d think would take this game personally the most – Johnson, because he played for Montco last year and helped beat the Mighty Oaks in the regular-season meeting – just went about it as any other game. There was another emotion he felt afterwards, though.

“I don’t take any game personal; I don’t have no vendetta against anybody or no type of beef,” he said. “I will say everybody in the locker room is ecstatic. I’m ecstatic about the win. No. 1, we didn’t lose, and they came in talking a lot of trash so it definitely was satisfying to win the game.”

The win extended Salem’s home winning streak to 16 games over the last two seasons. All of their remaining regular season games are at home.

Expecting a war, the Mighty Oaks came out with gun blazing. They hit five of their first seven 3-point shots to open a 20-2 lead six minutes into the game and were up 20 at the break. The difference was their seven 3s in the half to none by the Mustangs. 

Phillips, usually a force on the inside, hit the first one, followed in rapid succession by Zyaire Gibson and Jarrell Little, and had three in the half. He now has 21 treys on the year and is hitting at a 46.7 percent clip.

“Today, really, it started with me,” Phillips said. “Once they saw me hitting a shot early we were like ‘All right, Stef’s hot, we’re all hot.’ That’s how it starts really.”

As for stepping out and shooting the 3, the sophomore said, “it’s called player development, man. You gotta work on your game, all facets. You can’t just do one thing if you want to get to the highest level you can get to, so I work on everything, not just staying in the post.”

The lead swelled to 22 on Saaid Lee’s first bucket of the second half, but then the Mustangs (14-4) started attacking the rim and were rewarded with multiple and-ones while Mighty Oaks went cold and were dreadful at the free throw line (15-of-30 in the game, 7-of-19 in the second half). Montco ended up tying it at 71 on Issac Cole’s bucket with 1:58 to play.

“Just the way you want to start it,” Green said. “Move the ball, take open shots, run our stuff. When we did it, we looked good. When we didn’t, we looked like we were getting punched on just trying to survive.

“I try to tell them don’t get into the personal stuff, because it’s not personal, it’s you team winning the game. The second half it got personal and they pulled back in it. Everybody taking a chance doing their own stuff and you find yourself in a dogfight. That’s what scares me when my team plays against familiar faces. They get sidetracked. They start thinking about selfish things. Not selfish, but just bragging rights. They look for bragging right. Just win the game.”

That’s what they did down the stretch. Wright broke the tie on a flagrant foul free throw with 1:30 left and Gibson buried a 3 from the right corner on the accompanying possession to give the Mighty Oaks some breathing room.

“Saved the game,” Green said of Gibson’s 3. “Saved the game.”

The Mustangs missed two shots from underneath and two more shots on their next possession before Lee sealed the win with a pair of free throws with 16.8 seconds to play.

Wright led the Mighty Oaks with 17 points, 10 rebounds, five assists and six steals. Lee had 14 points and three assists, while Gibson knocked down three 3s on his way to 11 points. Phillips also had 11 points.

Despite hitting his first 3, Little continued to struggle with his shot, but he came up big in other ways, grabbing 10 rebounds and dealing six assists. Johnson had 10 points and six rebounds against his former team.

SALEM CC 77, MONTGOMERY 71
MONTGOMERY (14-4): Alantay Dawson 7-16 1-1 15, Quire Bennett 1-3 1-1 3, Tariq Jennings 2-5 3-5 7, Issac Cole 5-9 4-6 14, Julius Marshall 0-0 0-0 0, Matthew Williams 3-8 3-4 9, Steven Hill 1-6 0-0 2, Brandon Bush 9-18 1-2 19, Ryan Homburg 1-5 0-0 2. Totals 29-70 13-19 71.
SALEM CC (24-1): Jarrell Little 1-4 0-4 3, Saaid Lee 5-10 4-4 14, Zyaire Gibson 4-8 0-1 11, Nasseem Wright 6-8 5-12 17, Stefan Phillips 4-5 0-0 11, Jahseir Sayles 0-1 0-0 0, Qua Smith 2-4 0-0 5, Nayeem Johnson 3-13 2-5 10, Idris Rines 1-4 4-4 6. Totals 26-57 15-30 77.

Montgomery	29	42-	71
Salem CC	49	28-	77

3-point goals: Monaco 0-11 (Dawson 0-2, Cole 0-1, Williams 0-2, Hill 0-1, Bush 0-2, Homburg 0-3); Salem CC 10-23 (Little 1-3, Lee 0-2, Gibson 3-6, Phillips 3-3, Smith 1-2, Johnson 2-6, Rines 0-1). Rebounds: Montco 38 (Hill 7, Bush 7); Salem CC 40 (N. Wright 10, Little 10). Technical fouls: N. Wright. Fouled out: Cole. Total fouls: Montco 22, Salem CC 17.

Region XIX Standings

DIVISION III	R19	ALL	GSAC
SALEM CC (3)	11-1	24-1	17-1
Northampton (10)	12-2	20-3
Brookdale (RV)	12-2	16-6	11-4
Union (9)	12-3	19-6	10-2
Montgomery (8)	10-3	14-4
Camden	10-3	15-8	9-7
Bergen	12-7	13-11	10-6
Ocean	10-6	13-9	9-7
Atlantic Cape	10-6	11-11	8-8
RCSJ-Cumberland	5-8	8-14	6-11
Philadelphia	4-9	11-10
Thaddeus Stevens	4-9	8-12
Harrisburg Area	4-9	5-15
RCSJ-Gloucester	5-12	7-18	1-12
Sussex	4-12	7-17	4-11
Passaic	3-14	4-18	3-11
Delaware County	2-13	3-19
Luzerne	1-12	4-19

Number in parenthesis is JUCO Division III national ranking

TUESDAY’S GAMES
Montgomery at Salem CC
Atlantic Cape 99, Delaware County 67
Camden 91, Luzerne 65
Philadelphia 70, Union 67 (OT)
Lackawanna at Raritan Valley
Morris at Harcum
Mercer 78, Delaware Tech 68 (OT)
Middlesex 105, Essex 93
Thaddeus Stevens at Williamson Trades
Passaic at Brookdale
Northampton 93, RCSJ-Gloucester 37
Bergen 78, Ocean 76
RCSJ-Cumberland 81, Harrisburg Area 78
THURSDAY’S GAMES
Harrisburg Area at Salem CC
Compass Prep at Morris
Montgomery at Passaic
Essex at Monroe
Camden at RCSJ-Gloucester
Delaware County at RCSJ-Cumberland
Atlantic Cape at Ocean
Rockland at Lackawanna
Middlesex at Mercer
Northampton at Brookdale
SATURDAY’S GAMES
Philadelphia at Salem CC
Union at Camden
Bergen at Montgomery
Brookdale at Luzerne
Delaware County at Sussex
Delaware Tech at Morris
Ocean at RCSJ-Cumberland
Essex at Orange County
Mercer at Raritan Valley
RCSJ-Gloucester at Passaic
Penns State LV at Thaddeus Stevens
Lackawanna at Harcum
Northampton at Atlantic Cape
Westchester at Middlesex

JUCO DIVISION III POLL (1st place votes)	REC	PTS
Dallas College Richland (9)	15-6	105
Riverland	22-1	98
SALEM CC	23-1	91
Northern Essex	21-3	84
Dutchess	16-3	77
Dallas College Eastfield	14-7	70
Dallas College North Lake	13-8	63
Montgomery County (Pa.)	14-3	56
Union (N.J.)	19-5	49
Northampton	19-3	42
North Country	17-2	35
Mohawk Valley	11-4	28
Sandhills	16-8	21
Herkimer	14-4	7
Monroe-Bronx	17-5	3

Women’s game

CARNEYS POINT — The Salem CC women’s basketball suffered another lopsided loss to a nationally ranked team, but there was something about the way it looked early that seemed different somehow.

The Mighty Oaks have getting boat-raced the last couple games, but in the first half Tuesday night at least they looked competitive. Sure, they were down 22 at the break, but coming off a practice sophomore forward Kasey Oliver called “probably better than a lot of our practices,” they came out with an enthusiasm for attacking the basket, battling for loose balls, grabbing rebounds and genuinely giving No. 12 Union a hard time.

The second half it just got away and the Owls went on to bury them 105-39.

“I thought we played hard,” coach Brian Marsh said. “When they were in a zone we did really well against it. We struggled when they went man.

“I thought our team played hard. We got worn down. Union is No. 12 in the country for a reason – they’re good and they come at you in waves. When we’re playing hard we can do a lot of damage. We were just a little overwhelmed today. If we can have that same effort (they showed in the first half) for the last six games I really like our chances in most of them.”

In spite of the Mighty Oaks’ best effort, they still trailed 46-24 at halftime.

The second half was all Union. The Mighty Oaks were outscored 59-15 in the half, 30-2 in the fourth quarter, with the only two points coming from the free throw line. They had more turnovers (45) in the game than points (39), off which the Owls scored 52 points.

Union put all five starters and six players total in double figures. Oliver was the Mighty Oaks’ leading scorer with 13 points. 

It has been a tough stretch for the Mighty Oaks. They’ve lost their last three game since their last win by a combined 172 points 

“We know we’re a good team,” Oliver said. “Given our record, we really want to prove that to a lot of people, but it’s just not working out. I guess we want to prove to (Marsh) we can work hard.”


UNION 105, SALEM CC 39
SALEM CC (3-15): RayNescia King 3-6 1-1 8, TJ Shaw 3-13 0-1 6, Kasey Oliver 5-10 3-4 13, Paul Wilson 0-3 0-0 0, Jayda Hunter 3-7 0-2 6, Justine Cardona 2-4 1-2 5, Dani Gustin 0-3 1-4 1, Breanne Ruhl 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 16-46 6-14 39.
UNION (19-3): Jasmin McKay 7-9 8-11 22, Zakiyyah Lindsey 5-17 3-4 14, Cianna Papineau 5-10 0-0 13, Darrian Jackson 4-6 0-1 10. Zanaya Parsons 11-18 2-3 24, Aaliyah Littles 1-4 1-1 3, Gracie Cruz 0-4 0-0 0, Kada Rodgers 4-8 3-4 13, Emani Resto 1-4 1-1 3, Maria Paula Urena Rojas 0-3 1-2 1, Brianna Patterson 1-2 0-0 2. Totals 39-85 19-27 105.

Salem CC	13	11	13	2-	39
Union	20	26	29	30-	105

3-point goals: Salem CC 1-11 (King 1-2, Shaw 0-2, Wilson 0-3, Hunter 0-3, Cardona 0-1); Union 8-21 (Lindsey 1-4, Papineau 3-5, Jackson 2-4, Cruz 0-1, Rodgers 2-4, Urena Rojas 0-2, Patterson 0-1). Rebounds: Salem CC 34 (Hunter 8, Gustin 9); Union 45 (Parsons 12, Lindsey 9). Fouled out: King, Gustin. Total fouls: Salem CC 21, Union 14.

Region XIX Women’s Standings

DIVISION II	R19	ALL	GSAC
Harcum (3)	11-0	20-1
Union (12)	10-2	19-3	7-0
Mercer (14)	9-2	17-3	4-1
Essex	7-4	15-5	4-3
Raritan Valley	3-7	7-14	3-4
Middlesex	3-8	9-15	0-5
Delaware Tech	3-8	7-15
SALEM CC	2-9	3-15	0-5
Lackawanna	1-9	4-13
Morris	0-0	0-7	0-0

Number in parenthesis is JUCO Division II national ranking

TUESDAY’S GAMES
Union 105, Salem CC 39
Passaic 68, Brookdale 62
Bergen 74, Ocean 52
Lackawanna at Raritan Valley
Northampton 72, RCSJ-Gloucester 59
Essex 67, Middlesex 62
Mercer 100, Delaware Tech 43
Camden 74, Sussex 49
THURSDAY’S GAMES
Delaware Tech at Salem CC
Camden at RCSJ-Gloucester
Atlantic Cape at Ocean
Bergen at Northampton
Montgomery at Brookdale
Monroe at Raritan Valley
Philadelphia at Sussex
Middlesex at Mercer
Union at Essex
SATURDAY’S GAMES
Salem CC at Middlesex
Camden at Philadelphia
RCSJ-Gloucester at Passaic
Northampton at Atlantic Cape
Ocean at RCSJ-Cumberland
Essex at Orange County
Mercer at Raritan Valley
Bergen at Montgomery
Lackawanna at Harcum

Top-ranked Salem CC returns to winning ways after suffering first loss of the season, retakes sole possession of first place in region; women’s team struggles in home loss to Raritan Valley

By Al Muskewitz
Riverview Sports News

NANTICOKE, Pa. – The Salem CC men’s basketball team got back to their old selves and back on the winning track in its first game since its first loss of the season, making Luzerne CC the unfortunate victim of circumstances 106-68 in its final road game of the regular season.

It may not have been as sharp in some areas as they would have liked, but the top-ranked Mighty Oaks (23-1) did plenty of good things to control a game they should have had no trouble winning and it’s a win.

And, with Union taking down Northampton elsewhere in Region 19 Saturday, the Mighty Oaks retook sole possession of first place in the region Division III standings.

They had been cruising along at 22-0 before running into Brookdale Thursday night. In a crisis of focus, they fell behind by 17 with nine minutes to play. They did rally to make it a three-point game with 3:33 left, but then went cold again and the Jersey Blues stretched the lead into the final minute.

This time they placed six scorers in double figures, got scoring from 10 of the 11 players who got in the game and had eight players with at least one assist. Nasseem Wright led the offense with 24 points (with nine rebounds and five assists). Nayeem Johnson had 16 points and five assists. Stefan Phillips had 13 points, Jarrell Little and Jahseir Sayles had 12 each, and Saaid Lee had 10 (with five assists). For Phillips and Sayles they were career highs.

“Every time we play the way we practice and play the way that we’re playing it works well; it has worked well all year,” Mighty Oaks coach Mike Green said. “We ran into a team that’s better on that given night, so it’s just about being back to our principles and being the best team we can be.”

It’s all about ball movement, wearing teams down and playing good defense. They turned the Trailblazers (4-18) over 20 times, thanks in part to 10 steals, and were credited with 30 assists on their 41 baskets.

Perhaps the only thing disappointing about Saturday’ was the continuation of their shooting slump from 3-point range. The Mighty Oaks were only 7-for-32 (22 percent) against Luzerne and are 13-for-49 over the last two games, dropping their shooting percentage from behind the arc 60 points to .337.

Green doesn’t seen concerned about it right now, but he’d certainly like to see it turn around.

“We’ve got enough guys hitting enough, it’s just the looks we’ve been getting,” he said. “Normally they’ve been knocking them down, so we just have to get in that rhythm.

“I’m a real believer in the law of averages, man, so somebody’s gonna get it, the parade of 3s. It’s boiling up.”

It took the Mighty Oaks a little while to get going, but once they got cranking they were hard to stop. The game was tied at 18, then Salem went on an 11-0 run to finally take control and steadily pulled away. They hit the 100 mark for the tenth time this season.

“You really don’t need to rile them up, they’re already that,” Green said. “Except for one game I believe this whole year they’ve always been riled up. There’s nothing that I need to do. They take it among themselves.

“I never thought we would lay down. Those guys responded and came out and scored 106 points, which should have been 130, but you’ve got to make shots.”

They have six regular season games remaining and they’re all at home, starting Tuesday night against No. 8 Montgomery County, a game they probably need to win to stay in contention for at-large bid to the national tournament if they don’t win the district tournament. No. 10 Union and testy Camden are also in the gauntlet.

“I think it’s great, as long as we don’t get too complacent,” Green said. “I think it’s great because we’ve had our fair share on the road. We haven’t been shooting it well these last two games and ironically both those games were on the road, so hopefully those guys are back in form and ready to knock it down.”

The game will be a particularly special one for at least two people directly involved. Mustangs assistant coach Jerome Monroe was on Green’s national tournament staff last year and Mighty Oaks’ guard Johnson played at Montco last year, scoring 15 off the bench against Salem in the regular-season game almost a year ago to the day.

“That’s the tough part,” Green said. “I’m sure there are a lot of emotions on his behalf. You just try to help him channel it and use it whatever it is for the best of Salem.”

SALEM CC 106, LUZERNE 68
SALEM CC (23-1): Nasseem Wright 9-14 6-6 24, Nayeem Johnson 7-13 2-4 16, Stefan Phillips 5-6 1-1 13, Jarrell Little 4-8 2-4 12, Jahseir Sayles 5-10 1-2 12, Saaid Lee 4-6 2-2 10, Qua Smith 3-7 1-1 7, Idris Rines 1-5 2-2 5
J Wright 2-3 0-2 4, Zyaire Gibson 1-8 0-0 3. Totals 41-81 17-24 106.
LUZERNE (4-18): Jacob Patterson 8-16 8-11 24, Jaidyn Johnson 1-7 1-1 3, Jayden Austin 2-7 1-2 7, Amare Ellis 2-14 6-8 11, Jonathan Mateo 3-8 0-0 7, Tyler Collins 1-3 0-0 2, Christopher Jenkins 0-0 0-0 0, Melvin Egbeto 1-3 0-1 2, Time Welcome 0-4 0-0 0, Kobe Jacobs 1-3 0-0 2, Bryan Ferreira 2-3 4-4 10. Totals 21-68 20-27 68.

Salem CC	52	54-	106
Luzerne	33	35-	68

Region XIX Standings

DIVISION III	R19	ALL	GSAC
SALEM CC (1)	10-1	23-1	17-1
Union (10)	15-2	19-5	13-2
Brookdale	13-2	16-6	11-4
Northampton (5)	11-2	19-3
Montgomery (8)	9-2	13-3
Camden	8-3	13-8	8-7
Ocean	10-5	13-8	9-6
Bergen	11-7	12-11	5-10
Atlantic Cape	8-8	9-11	7-9
Thaddeus Stevens	4-8	8-11
RCSJ-Cumberland	4-8	7-14	6-11
Harrisburg Area	4-8	5-14
RCSJ-Gloucester	5-11	7-16	1-12
Sussex	4-12	7-16	4-11
Philadelphia	3-10	9-10
Passaic	3-14	4-18	3-11
Delaware County	2-11	3-17
Luzerne	1-11	4-18

Number in parenthesis is JUCO Division III national ranking

SATURDAY’S GAMES
Salem CC 106, Luzerne 68
Brookdale 78, Ocean 77
Harrisburg Area 87, Passaic 68
Montgomery at Thaddeus Stevens
Delaware County at Williamson Trades
Morris 90, Westchester CC 64
Philadelphia 76, RCSJ-Cumberland 73
Mercer 103, Essex 95
Atlantic Cape at RCSJ-Gloucester
Camden 102, Bergen 87
Union 67, Northampton 57
Harcum 87, Delaware Tech 65
Lackawanna 86, Middlesex 59

Women’s game

CARNEYS POINT — No matter how difficult things had gotten during the season, Salem CC women’s coach Brian Marsh would never question the effort his undermanned team gave on the court.

He couldn’t say that Saturday.

Coming off one of their biggest losses of the season, the Mighty Oaks just seemed in a fog and lost to Raritan Valley 72-35.

‘There’ve been games where we played hard,” Marsh said. “We just went into Lackawanna on the road and beat Lackawanna. We come home and … I just don’t think the effort was there today.

“We shot horrendous. We did not shoot well and I was telling them if your ball’s not going into the basket then you have to play good defense, you have to rebound, you have to dive on the floor and win those 50-50 balls and we just didn’t want to do that. I don’t know what happened. A lot of our players’ heads were just not in this game today.”

There was a lot that didn’t go right. The Mighty Oaks (3-14) shot 23 percent from the floor for the game, hit just one of 20 3-point attempt – TJ Shaw in the second quarter – were charged with 29 turnovers and scored just 15 points in the second half. They gave up one-sided 20-point quarters on the front and back end of the game.

They’ve lost their last two games by a total of 106 points. That’s the way they were losing games two years ago when they brought the program back.

It seemed to bottom out in the fourth quarter when they shot 2-for-17 from the floor and scored only six points. It didn’t help that Shaw, their only player doing any consistent scoring, went out with a leg injury with 3:41 to play.

“I think this is the worst game we played this year,” Marsh said. “Now, have I seen it before in stretches, of course; but lately, really since the Cecil game right before Christmas I thought we played hard.

“Obviously there’s been times when we’ve been overmatched against some highly ranked teams, but they still played hard and they still finished hard. Today I don’t think they played hard. We just didn’t have it today. I just felt like the team kind of took their butt-kickin’ and were OK with it. That’s not normally Salem basketball.”

Shaw finished with 20 points. Kasey Oliver had 10, but nobody else scored more than three and two starters didn’t score at all. Shaw was 8-for-26 from the floor, 1-for-3 from 3-point range, but the other six players were 7-for-40 and 0-for-17 from 3. Raritan Valley, meanwhile, hit 10 3-pointers, had two 20-point scorers, three scorers in double figures and two double-doubles.

“It was just one of those things where we weren’t here today,” Marsh said. “I don’t think a couple of our players, their heads weren’t in the game; they didn’t want to be here.

“I just told them you have seven games left, how do you want to be remembered? Do you want to be remembered as a team that fought through adversity with injuries and illness and all that or do you just want to give up? That’s where they have to do it.”

RARITAN VALLEY 72, SALEM CC 35
RARITAN VALLEY (7-14): Julia Sole Pons 2-5 0-0 5, Maria Eguizabal Ruales 11-22 0-0 27, Paula Aguilera Ortega 1-3 0-0 2, Elizabeth May 8-17 2-2 21, Saionni Patrick 1-6 2-2 5, Aviva Palms 4-7 3-4 11, Jayla McNeil 0-2 0-0 0, Telma Comba 0-3 1-2 1. Totals 27-65 8-10 72.
SALEM CC (3-14): RayNescia King 1-10 1-2 3, TJ Shaw 8-26 3-5 20, Kasey Oliver 5-11 0-2 10, Paula Wilson 0-10 0-0 0, Jayda Hunter 0-6 0-0 0, Dani Gustin 1-3 0-12, Breanne Ruhl 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 15-66 4-10 35.

Raritan Valley	20	16	12	24-	72
Salem CC	8	12	9	6-	35

3-point goals: Raritan Valley 10-23 (Pons 1-2, Eguizabal Ruales 5-12, May 3-8, Patrick 1-1); Salem CC 1-20 (King 0-6, Shaw 1-3, Wilson 0-8, Hunter 0-3). Rebounds: Raritan Valley 44 (May 11, Palms 11); Salem CC 43 (Gustin 12, Shaw 9, Oliver 9). Fouled out: Gustin. Total fouls: Raritan Valley 12, Salem CC 10.

Region XIX Women’s Standings

DIVISION II	R19	ALL	GSAC
Harcum (3)	11-0	20-1
Union (13)	9-2	18-3	6-0
Mercer (14)	8-2	16-3	4-1
Essex	6-4	14-5	4-3
Delaware Tech	3-7	7-14
Raritan Valley	3-7	7-14	3-4
Middlesex	3-7	9-14	0-4
SALEM CC	2-8	3-14	0-4
Lackawanna	1-9	4-13
Morris	0-0	0-7	0-0

Number in parenthesis is JUCO Division II national ranking

SATURDAY’S GAMES
Raritan Valley 72, Salem CC 35
Passaic 69, Northampton 59
Camden 73, Bergen 49
Harcum 99, Delaware Tech 30
Mercer 82, Essex 64
Philadelphia 103, RCSJ-Cumberland 35
Atlantic Cape 89, RCSJ-Gloucester 69
Middlesex 82, Lackawanna 47
Ocean 58, Brookdale 53

Brookdale hands No. 1 Mighty Oaks their first loss of the season, ending 24-game carryover winning streak; Salem CC women routed by No. 3 Harcum


By Al Muskewitz
Riverview Sports News

LINCROFT – As well as the Salem CC basketball team has played this season and the regularity with which the Mighty Oaks have dispatched their opponents, one would be inclined to think they wouldn’t lose until Hell froze over.

Well, the temperature in the most famous Hell in America — Hell, Michigan — was 4 above Thursday night. It was only slightly warmer in Hell, Norway, where it was 8. Both were well below freezing and the Mighty Oaks did indeed lose.

Top-ranked Salem suffered its first loss of the season, 89-83 at Brookdale. The Mighty Oaks (22-1) were the last undefeated team in the JUCO Division III rankings.

“All is not lost,” Salem coach Mike Green said. “We won 22 games straight. Our guys weathered the storm for 22 games straight. They just couldn’t do it for the 23rd.

“We just didn’t get it done. We played a really good team on their home court that was really good tonight.”

Brookdale (15-6) was particularly good at the start of the second half. It was a one-point game at halftime, but the Jersey Blues opened the second half by scoring on 13 of their first 14 possessions, highlighted by a 20-3 run in which all three Salem points came from the free throw line.

“We lost focus, man,” Green said. “We blew a lot of assignments on defense and when that happens you’ve got the tendency to try to go get it back on offense, so you just compound mistakes. We did that at least seven, eight times the second half … You’ve got to be better.”

The hellish cold crept into the Mighty Oaks’ shooting. While they’ve been hitting at 34 percent for the season, they were just 6-of-29 from 3-point range on this night (21 percent) – their second worst showing of the season. Jarrell Little, their leading scorer and a 38-percent shooter from behind the arc, was just 3-of-16 from the field and 0-for-9 from 3-point range. He had eight points, the first time he’d been held out of double figures this season.

Nasseem Wright was Salem’s leading scorer with 18 points (and 10 rebounds and five assists). Saaid Lee and Nayeem Johnson had 17 points apiece. Johnson also grabbed nine rebounds

The Mighty Oaks (22-1) trailed by 17 with nine minutes to play, but they finally came to life and cut their deficit to three with 3:33 left and had the ball. But they didn’t score again until Johnson’s driving layup with 1:08 to play. By then, the Jersey Blues had rebuilt their lead to 86-77.

“Their backs were against the wall,” Green said of the rally. “This is a resilient group. We had to blow some time outs that let them understand what’s at stake. Our pride was on the line so those guys responded, like they have all year.”

The back-and-forth first half came to a controversial close. Green was hit with a technical foul after the officials ruled Zyaire Gibson’s go-ahead 3-pointer didn’t beat the shot clock. The bucket would have given the Mighty Oaks a 45-42 lead with 33 seconds left in the half. Instead, the points came off the board and the Jersey Blues hit one of the two technical foul shots to take a 43-42 lead at the break.

But that wasn’t the factor that decided the game.

“We were getting our butts kicked,” Green said. “We gave up 40 points (each half).”

The loss ended their 24-game carryover winning streak, going back to their final two games in last year’s national tournament. They had been 14-0 in games away from DuPont Fieldhouse this season.

“You’ve got to live with it,” Green said. “The kids are a little distraught. They’re No. 1, none of these guys have ever been No. 1, never been the talk of the nation in some capacity. But hard work gets you right back in it. All ain’t lost. We’ve got seven more games I believe.”

The Mighty Oaks will look to start another streak Saturday at last-place Luzerne (4-17)


BROOKDALE 89, SALEM CC 83
SALEM CC (22-1): Nasseem Wright 6-12 6-8 18, Saaid Lee 7-11 1-1 17, Nayeem Johnson 6-11 5-8 17, Zyaire Gibson 3-8 0-0 9, Jarrell Little 3-16 2-3 8, Idris Rines 3-8 1-1 8, Stefan Phillips 2-3 2-4 6, Jahseir Sayles 0-2 0-0 0, Jaiayre Wright 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 30-71 17-25 83.
BROOKDALE (15-6): Matt Slaby 4-8 0-3 9, Aidan Hamlin-Woolfolk 11-18 4-4 28, Evan Weiner 5-9 4-6 15, Keith Allen 7-17 6-10 24, Ariel Perez 0-0 0-0 0, Kyle Fulcher 3-4 0-0 6, Emmanuel Miller 1-4 0-0 2, Dream Aikins 0-0 0-0 0, Leonardo Lopez 0-0 0-0 0, Kevin Hemans 2-4 1-2 5. Totals 33-64, 15-25 89.

Salem CC	42	41-	83
Brookdale	43	46-	89

Region XIX Standings

DIVISION III	R19	ALL	GSAC
Northampton (5)	11-1	19-2
SALEM CC (1)	9-1	22-1	17-1
Union (10)	14-2	18-5	13-2
Brookdale	12-2	15-6	10-4
Montgomery (8)	9-2	13-3
Camden	8-3	12-8	7-7
Ocean	10-4	13-7	9-5
Bergen	11-7	12-10	5-9
Atlantic Cape	8-8	9-11	7-9
RCSJ-Cumberland	4-7	7-13	6-10
Thaddeus Stevens	4-8	8-11
RCSJ-Gloucester	5-11	7-16	1-12
Harrisburg Area	3-8	4-14
Sussex	4-12	7-16	4-11
Passaic	3-13	4-17	3-11
Philadelphia	2-10	8-10
Delaware County	2-11	3-17
Luzerne	1-10	4-17

Number in parenthesis is JUCO Division III national ranking

THURSDAY’S GAMES
Brookdale 89, Salem CC 83
Philadelphia 76, Luzerne 60
Raritan Valley 104, Rockland 102
Union 87, RCSJ-Gloucester 58
Atlantic Cape 79, Sussex 78
Essex 108, Bucks 87
Camden 71, Passaic 49
Ocean 81, RCSJ-Cumberland 79
Northampton 96, Mercer 86
SATURDAY’S GAMES
Salem CC at Luzerne
Brookdale at Ocean
Harrisburg Area at Passaic
Montgomery at Thaddeus Stevens
Delaware County at Williamson Trades
Morris at Westchester CC
Philadelphia at RCSJ-Cumberland
Essex at Mercer
Atlantic Cape at RCSJ-Gloucester
Camden at Bergen
Union at Northampton
Harcum at Delaware Tech
Lackawanna at Middlesex

Women’s game

HARCUM 107, SALEM CC 38
HARCUM (19-1): Jaida Helm 2-6 0-0 5, Eternity Aiken 3-4 2-2 8, Alanah Barnhill 3-8 2-2 9, Sofia Vitucci 10-17 2-2 26, Tayla Barros 5-11 0-0 14, Senaya Parker 3-6 2-2 8, KeNiya White 2-3 0-0 4, Alaysia Fernandez 2-5 0-0 4, Kyndall Brewington 7-15 3-3 20, Nyoman Austin 4-11 1-2 9. Totals 41-86 12-13 107.
SALEM CC (3-13): Paula Wilson 3-9 0-2 9, RayNescia King 1-9 0-0 2, Tanijya Shaw 6-17 7-8 21, Kasey Oliver 1-5 2-2 4, Jayda Hunter 0-6 0-0 0, Dani Gustin 1-2 0-0 2. Totals 12-48 9-12 38.

Harcum	35	25	22	25-	107
Salem CC	10	14	7	7-	38

3-point goals: Harcum 13-36 (Hełm 1-4, Barnhill 1-5, Vitucci 4-8, Barros 4-9, Parker 0-2, White 0-1, Brewington 3-7); Salem CC 5-21 (Wilson 3-8, King 0-3, Shaw 2-8, Oliver 0-1, Hunter 0-1). Rebounds: Harcum 50 (Austin 11); Salem CC 23 (Hunter 5). Total fouls: Harcum 13, Salem CC 11.

Region XIX Women’s Standings

DIVISION II	R19	ALL	GSAC
Harcum (3)	10-0	19-1
Union (13)	9-2	18-3	6-0
Mercer (14)	7-2	15-3	3-1
Essex	6-3	14-4	4-2
Delaware Tech	3-6	7-13
Raritan Valley	2-7	6-14	2-4
Middlesex	2-7	8-14	2-4
SALEM CC	2-7	3-13	0-3
Lackawanna	1-8	4-12
Morris	0-0	0-7	0-0

Number in parenthesis is JUCO Division II national ranking

THURSDAY’S GAMES
Harcum 107, Salem CC 38
RCSJ-Gloucester 63, Montgomery 40
Philadelphia 57, Brookdale 48
Ocean 79, RCSJ-Cumberland 77
Camden 63, Passaic 52
Atlantic Cape 77, Sussex 48
Mercer 93, Northampton 54
SATURDAY’S GAMES
Raritan Valley at Salem CC
Passaic at Northampton
Camden at Bergen
Harcum at Delaware Tech
Essex at Mercer
Philadelphia at RCSJ-Cumberland
Atlantic Cape at RCSJ-Gloucester
Lackawanna at Middlesex
Brookdale at Ocean