Eagles fly past?Salem

SALEM – Same game, different place. For the second time this year, Salem and Hubbard went to overtime. Earlier this season, Hubbard claimed the win on their home floor. The Quakers seemed poised to gain revenge playing in the cozy confines of Cabas Gymnasium, but a string of mistakes down the stretch gave the victory to Hubbard 53-47 in overtime. The two teams played neck-and-neck the entire game. The game was tied eight different occasions. After Salem jumped out to an initial 8-2 lead, no more then four points separated the teams the rest of the way, until Salem pushed themselves to a seven-point lead with two minutes to play. Unfortunately it would be a lead the Quakers wouldn’t be able to hold. Mike King started to finally give Salem some separation with an inside basket. Trent Toothman knocked one down the next time down the floor to get the lead to seven. Then the Eagles stormed back. Kory Hopkinson started Hubbard’s rally with a 3-pointer. Tylor Loveless knocked down a string of free throws that got the gap closed to 43-41 with under a minute to play. Salem’s ensuing in-bounds pass deflected off Ryan Wolfgang and went out-of-bounds giving Hubbard the chance to tie. Mike Lopuchovsky got position inside and hit a game-tying lay-up with 18 seconds to play. “We said we need to deny the ball,” Hubbard coach Rick Fox said of what he told his team down the stretch. “We were able to cause a turnover towards the end, (Hopkinson) drove in made a nice pass to (Lopuchovsky) who layed it in to tie it up, then we did a nice job of stopping them on the defensive end.” Salem had a chance for the final shot but turned the ball over in the final seconds and the game went to overtime. “We got guys that have played a lot of basketball and we have to grow up,” Salem coach Will Klucinec said. “There’s no excuse for us to make those plays down the stretch. As a group we need to do a better job of handling the basketball.” Chase Myers put Hubbard ahead for good on a basket with 2:25 to play in the extra period. After the Eagles extended the lead to three, the Quakers had a couple chances to draw even but 3-point shots from Wolfgang and Trent Kenreigh fell off the mark as Hubbard was able to close out the game. “We played them hard the last time we played them in overtime and the kids played hard tonight and they didn’t give up,” Fox said. “We were down seven in the fourth and they fought back. They’re gutsy and they stepped it up.” Lost in the outcome was good nights had by Wolfgang and Trent Toothman. Wolfgang led Salem with 14 points and seven rebounds. Toothman added 12 points and eight rebounds. However, it will be the string of mistakes that the game will be remembered for. “It was just out of sloppiness” Klucinec said. “We got to be able to catch the basketball and shoot free throws and make lay-ups. It came down to fundamentals tonight and we didn’t do a very good job of them. Having three turnovers in the last 30 seconds can’t happen.” This was the fifth straight tight game Salem has played starting with the first meeting with Hubbard. They are 2-3 in that stretch with all three losses coming in overtime. Salem (7-8, 1-3 AAC White) will look to rebound as they travel to Struthers on Tuesday. “Any time your playing with young kids, you got to be able to pick them up,” Klucinec said. “Our guys are resilient, they’re going to fight back and they’re going to stay after it, but we let one slip away tonight.” Salem won the jayvee game 44-36. Brendan Webb led Salem with 13 points. Ryan Bush and Anthony Shivers each added 10.