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Quakers are young and relentless

Salem’s Josh Young splits Alliance’s Gavin Bruni (12) and Trevor Strata during the Quakers’ win Friday. (Special to the Journal/Gary Leininger)

SALEM — Coming into this season with five new starters, first-year Salem coach Jeff Andres knew the Quakers would be a work in progress.

Gradually, the pieces have been falling into place in practice. Friday was the first time everything came together on the court.

Senior guard Josh Young converted the game-winning shot with 0.5 seconds left to complete a second half comeback and deliver the Quakers a hard-fought 55-53 victory over Alliance Friday at Cabas Gymnasium.

“Tonight is a huge momentum boost for us,” Young said. “Once all the younger guys see what we are capable of, I believe we can accomplish some great things.”

Young and fellow senior Trey Double each led the Quakers with 15 points. After a rough first couple weeks of the season, Salem improves to 1-4 overall and 1-1 in the Eastern Buckeye Conference. Alliance falls to 1-3, 1-2.

“We all knew we could be a good basketball team,” Double said. “When we started practice together, we were really bad and in our scrimmages we didn’t look too good. But it’s just been a matter of gaining reps in practice and getting game experience together. Tonight was a huge confidence boost for us.”

The Quakers stubbornly erased an eight-point deficit throughout the fourth quarter, but the Aviators had a chance to win the game when they took possession with under 20 seconds left and the score tied at 53.

Junior Trevor Strata (who had a game-high 24 points) had the hot hand for Alliance throughout the second half, but his corner three clanged off the rim with five seconds left.

The ball caromed to Niko Walter and he alertly fired a pass ahead to Young, who was racing down the court. With an Alliance defender in close pursuit, Young banked in his close range shot as he was fouled with 0.5 seconds left, triggering an eruption from the crowd.

“I just wanted to get back as quick as possible,” Young said. “When the shot went up, I’d be lying if I said I thought it had a good chance. I was just praying it would go in.”

“Josh is a guy we’re going to count on every night to get points for us and he came through with a great play,” Salem coach Jeff Andres said. “Niko Walter made a great look up the floor and found his teammate.”

Alliance seemed to have momentum on its side after a 9-0 run gave the Aviators a 44-36 lead with 6:25 left in the game.

From there, the Quakers got to work, using the three-ball as their primary weapon.

Hunter Griffith buried two threes in the span of 1:27 to slice the lead to 44-42.

With 3:04 left, Niko Walter fired away with another three to pull the Quakers even at 47-47.

Double then got in on the action, briefly giving Salem a 50-49 lead with a three-pointer only to have Alliance surge back in front 53-50 with 1:26 left.

Double answered right back, however, nailing a corner three to tie the game with 55 seconds left off a nice find from Griffith.

Salem shot 5-for-8 from three-point range in the fourth quarter and shot 12-for-24 overall in the second half. Increased ball movement was the key to unlocking the Quaker offense after a stagnant first half.

“Coach Andres came in and ripped us pretty good at halftime,” Young said. “He said we needed to be more unselfish on offense. We came out and moved the ball much better.”

“Making the correct basketball play and looking for your teammate in the right spot is something we’ve really been stressing,” Andres said. “We’ve been getting a lot better at making the extra pass.”

The Quakers will try and take their momentum on the road to rival West Branch on Friday. After that they will not be back in action until January 4 when they host Minerva.

“I’m just so proud of these guys right now,” Andres said. “We’ve had a rough run against some good teams to start the season, but we’re getting better. The guys have kept working really hard in practice. Tonight it was great to play well and get a victory in front of our crowd. They’re watching us grow up in front of their eyes.”

Game notes

¯ In addition to his 15 points, Double was a constant presence of defense. He was credited with 11 blocks, just one off the school record.

“The guys on the bench kept updating me with how many I had,” Double said. “I’ve never had a game like that before. I always try and keep up a consistent effort on defense. Tonight, things were just falling into place.”

¯ Walter had a solid all-around game with 10 points, six rebounds and six assists. Young added seven rebounds.

¯ Salem won the JV game 42-37. Dylan Ulrich led the Quakers with nine points.

ALLIANCE: 12-15-15-11–53

SALEM: 11- 8-17-18–55

ALLIANCE SCORING: Brandon Alexander 2-0-4, Mikel Hicks 0-0-0, Demarko Brooks 5-3-13, Gavin Bruni 0-1-1, Cameron Cox 3-0-7, Gus Jackson 0-2-2, Trevor Strata 7-4-24, Nick Oldfield 1-0-2. TEAM TOTALS: 18, 10-13: 53.

SALEM SCORING: Hunter Griffith 3-0-8, Cade Campolito 0-0-0, Josh Young 5-3-15, Niko Walter 4-2-10, Luke Weingart 0-0-0, Turner Johnson 3-1-7, Josh Lehwald 0-0-0, Trey Double 5-0-15, Luke Duncan 0-0-0. TEAM TOTALS: 20, 6-9: 55.

Three-point goals: Alliance 4 (Strata 3, Cox), Salem 9 (Double 3, Walter 2, Young 2, Griffith 2).

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