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Bush scores 31 for Salem
By Doug Chapin
LIBERTY
“Finishing” in basketball coach-speak denotes closing out a victory when discussing a team’s performance and, when applied to individual play, it means converting a lay-up in traffic.
Salem High junior Ryan Bush put on a display of successful finishing at the rim, then helped the Quakers finish off a 64-55 victory over Liberty with an 8-for-8 performance at the foul line in the final quarter.
Bush scored 31 points on 9-for-15 shooting from the field and 10-for-12 from the line. He was 3-for-6 from 3-point range and 6-for-9 on 2-pointers, mostly on physical, heavily-contested drives to the basket.
Finishing games out has been an issue for the Quakers (6-9) this season.
“We’ve lost six games at the end,” coach Rich Hart said. “We either missed a lay-up, well, in all of them we’ve missed a lay-up to seal the win. We could easily be sitting here 12-3 without any problem.
“We’ve got to play four quarters, that’s been our whole problem. We’ve played four quarters in about six games and we’ve won all of them. If we can do that, we can be successful. If we don’t and we don’t play together we’re not going to win.”
Bush was supported by sophomore post Max Wolfgang who contributed 14 points in the paint and 11 rebounds.
Liberty (7-8) was led by senior star Jalen Mann who had 24 points and 10 rebounds.
For coach Dan Bubon, wins and losses for the Leopards have come down to the little things.
“It’s something new every game. There’s a million excuses we could make, but it’s just something new every game,” he said. “Nobody beats us bad and we don’t really beat anybody bad either. In a close game, if someone makes an adjustment on the fly, we do have a hard time reacting. We’re still thinking instead of playing.
“We are talented and I promise you no one looks forward to playing us. But we don’t do the little things.”
Down 35-31 at halftime, Salem began the second half with a 6-0 run and ended the third quarter with a 46-43 lead. Ahead 48-46 a minute into the final quarter, the Quakers put together a 7-0 run for a 55-46 lead with just over four minutes remaining.
Salem’s final nine points came at the foul line as the Leopards got no closer than a five-point deficit.
Salem made a tactical change on defense in the second half.
“We went with a little half-court trap back into a defense that took away the middle, because they were killing us in the middle in the first half,” Hart said. “We held them to eight points in the third quarter and that allowed us to get on our feet offensively.”