Quakers rally to silence Cards
Salem is tied with Niles atop the Metro Athletic Conference standings.
By ERIC HAMILTON
VINDICATOR CORRESPONDENT
SALEM -- Trailing 42-39 with less than a minute to play Tuesday night against Canfield, the Salem High boys basketball team needed a big play.
Like he has all season, Tom Jesko didn't disappoint his teammates or the capacity crowd at the John A. Cabas gymnasium.
The senior drilled his biggest shot of the year, converting a rare 4-point play to propel the Quakers to a 43-42 lead with 56 seconds remaining.
He added a free throw with 13 seconds left as Salem rallied from a six-point fourth-quarter deficit to knock off Metro Athletic Conference rival Canfield 46-42.
The victory enabled Salem (9-1, 3-0 MAC) to remain tied with Niles for the top spot in the MAC. Those two squads will meet Friday in Salem.
"I looked up at the scoreboard in the beginning of the fourth quarter and saw that we were down and I just took it upon myself to do whatever I needed to make sure that we did not lose this game," said Jesko, who scored a game-high 21 points.
"We had a great crowd tonight and we were able to do just enough to put on a show for them and get the win," Jesko said. "It is just a great feeling."
With senior post player Tyler Pierce on the bench for the entire second quarter with three fouls, Salem had trouble getting into a rhythm offensively.
Ryan Benchwick helped pick up the slack with six first-quarter points, but Canfield owned a 13-9 advantage after the first frame.
The Cardinals led by as many as seven in the second, but that is when Jesko began to heat up.
He cut Canfield's lead to 25-21 with a 3-pointer at the buzzer before intermission.
Jesko dominated the fourth quarter with 11 points to bring Salem all the way back.
After a Quakers timeout with 1:37 remaining in the game, Jesko pulled off his heroics.
Rolling off a double screen at the top of the key, he swished a 3-pointer as he was fouled. The free throw gave the Quakers the lead for good at 43-42.
"Your best player has to make plays at crunch time and that's what Tommy did tonight," Salem coach Jeff Brink said. "He gets face guarded every game and they play box-and-1 against him and try everything and he still puts up those numbers. He just took over at the end.
"We've come a long way in three years since I got here," Brink said. "People said I was stupid coming to Salem. They said I couldn't win here.
"But we're proving them wrong right now and I'm proud of how hard these kids have worked," Brink said. "It's nice to be winning and beating good programs like Canfield and Poland."