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Strong second half rescues Quakers
By BRANDON JUDEH
Boardman
After a slow first half, the Salem High boys basketball team rebounded thanks to a 10-0 run in the third quarter.
The Quakers used that spurt to go on and defeat Niles, 47-36, on Tuesday night to earn a date with Poland.
Both teams started out flat and it was apparent from the opening tip that the game would revolve around defense, patience and ball control.
Salem head coach Rich Hart knew one of two things would happen to his team after being off for a week and a half — they would either come out on fire or like a stunned animal on the highway at night.
“We had a great week of practice, everything clicked, but we came out tonight like a deer in headlights,” Hart said.
The Quakers (9-12) went in to halftime down by five and with little momentum offensively, but Salem responded nicely to Hart’s intermission speech.
“I told them we need to be aggressive and make stops on defense,” Hart said.
Niles (3-18) grabbed an early nine-point cushion in the third quarter, but Salem responded with a 10-0 run to take the lead. The Quakers outscored the Red Dragons 16-4 to take a three-point lead into the fourth quarter.
Salem’s big run can be credited to junior Ryan Bush who scored six of his game high 16 points in the quarter, including a buzzer beating three point shot that seemed to be the dagger in the Dragons heart.
“We weren’t really nervous coming out to start the game, but it’s the tournament, and anything can happen,” Bush said.
Bush added eight rebounds and three assists to his totals while teammate Brendan Webb helped out with 12 points and three assists.
Salem’s Trent Kenreigh chipped in with 11 points and Max Wolfgang grabbed seven rebounds.
At the beginning of the final quarter it was apparent that the Quakers wanted to take their time, set their offense up and chew time off of the clock.
For the Red Dragons Joe Profanchick scored 10 points and grabbed a game-high 12 boards. Ray Russ led all Niles scorers with 13 points.