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Salem seniors chain Bulldogs

Salem’s Hunter Griffith goes to the basket against East Palestine’s Tyler Bistarkey (left) and Dominic Posey on Tuesday. (Special to the Journal/Gary Leininger)

SALEM — It was Senior Night at Salem Tuesday evening and six Quaker seniors were determined to walk out of John A. Cabas Gymnasium for the last time with a win.

Stamp it mission accomplished.

The Quakers built up as much as a 15-point first-half lead and held off a spirited East Palestine comeback in the fourth quarter to cop a 60-56 triumph over the Bulldogs.

“In the second half they (the Bulldogs) knocked some tough shots down but our kids hung tough and got the victory and we’ll take it,” said Salem coach Jeff Andres.

“It’s a hard one (loss) tonight,” said East Palestine coach William Stanton. “We were trying to go get one, but it’s a credit to them (the Quakers). They came out on senior night and went out and fought. When you play hard, you’re going to win, and that’s what they did.”

The six Salem seniors of Trey Double, Turner Johnson, Luke Weingart, Josh Young, Josh Lehwald and Luke Duncan combined to score 44 of the Quakers’ 60 points on the night.

“They (the six seniors) have just been a great group, I told them that before the game,” said Andres. “They’re just a good group of kids and are going to be successful in whatever they do.”

In particular, seniors Trey Double and Turner Johnson had tremendous offensive games to lead Salem. Double scored a season-high 22 points to go along with 13 rebounds.

“I just felt relaxed, no pressure,” said Double. “Everything was falling for me. “(Looking ahead) we just want to make a tournament run and go as far as we can, it’s our senior season.”

Meanwhile, Johnson finished with 12 points and caught two beautiful alley oop passes for layups to go along with a rim-rattling fourth-quarter slam dunk which brought the Salem fans to their feet.

Andres said Double and Johnson had great games.

“He (Double) also had 21 against Carrollton last week and he’s been playing really well, no doubt,” said the Salem coach. “And Turner Johnson played well tonight and we talked about that when he plays well, I think we play well.”

Salem sophomore Hunter Griffith also had an excellent game and finished with 10 points, including a three-pointer.

East Palestine had excellent offensive balance as four players reached double digits. Dom Posey led the Bulldogs with 13 points, while Steve Darlington finished with 12 markers, Parker Sherry added 11 points and

Abel Figley had 10 points.

“The kids are playing good basketball lately and I’m very happy where the program is headed,” said Stanton.

The Quakers led 32-21 at halftime and took as much as a 13-point (40-27) third-quarter lead over the Bulldogs following a layup by Double with 5:26 showing. But East Palestine, which had eight three-pointers in the game, closed to within three points (42-39) following a trey by Posey with 1:59 left in the frame. But Salem answered by outscoring the Bulldogs 9-0 in the remainder of the period to take a 51-39 advantage after three.

“You can’t win one half and win a basketball game,” said Stanton. “We kind of came out at the beginning of the game and thought we were better than them and we weren’t going to fight. We fought at the end of the game and that’s what did it (gave the Bulldogs a chance at the end).”

East Palestine wouldn’t go away in the fourth quarter and drew within two points (58-56) of the Quakers when Steve Darlington drained a three-pointer with 1:21 left. The Quakers burned much of the remaining time off the clock but turned the ball over with 10.4 seconds left, giving East Palestine one last offensive chance. But the Bulldogs turned the ball over at midcourt with 3.8 seconds showing. Forced to foul, East Palestine sent Salem’s Josh Young to the line and he sealed the Quakers’ 60-56 win with two free throws with 3.8 seconds left.

The game was a seesaw battle in the opening quarter as there were eight lead changes, but with East Palestine leading 7-6 at the 3:25 mark of the frame, Salem went on an impressive 20-7 run which stretched from midway through the first quarter to midway through the second period. Turner Johnson led the way with 10 first-half points for the Quakers, including two beautiful layups on alley oop passes.

The Quakers took a 14-4 lead after one.

“We rebounded well and got out on the fast break,” said Andres. “When you create stops like that, it enables you to run and we’re better when we’re able to do that.”

The Quakers stretched their lead to as much as 15 points (31-16) following a layup by the Quakers Double with 3:58 left before halftime. But East Palestine, which had trouble penetrating Salem’s effective zone defense through much of the opening half, began to find some openings and went on a 10-1 run to close out the second quarter and trail 32-25 at intermission, setting up a wild and unpredictable second half.

The Quakers are now 6-15 overall, while the Bulldogs are 7-14.

Game notes

• Salem won the junior varsity game, 68-38. Anthony Dimuzio led the Quakers with 15 points. Dalton Vance paced the Bulldogs with 15 points.

• Salem closes out the regular season Friday night when the Quakers play an independent game at neighboring United Local.

“Going down to United, they’re going to be amped up for us because that’s kind of a close rivalry and has been for years in football and basketball ,” said Andres. “They (the Golden Eagles) are good, but it would be nice to get a little momentum going into the tournament.”

• East Palestine will host Heartland Christian in a makeup game Friday evening.

“Hopefully we get a win, we beat them the first time, but hopefully we’ll beat them a second time,” said Stanton.

EAST PALESTINE: 9-16-14-17–56

SALEM: 17-15-19- 9–60

EAST PALESTINE SCORING: Cooper Vance 1-0-3, Dom Posey 5-1-13, Steve Darlington 3-4-12, Parker Sherry 5-1-11, John Bertovich 0-0-0, Dalton Vance 0-0-0, Brandon Turcola 3-0-7, Abel Figley 4-0-10. TEAM TOTALS: 21 6-10-56.

SALEM SCORING: Hunter Griffith 4-1-10, Josh Young 1-3-5, Cade Campolito 0-0-0, Niko Walter 2-2-6, Luke Weingart 2-0-4, Turner Johnson 6-0-12, Josh Lehwald 0-1-1, Trey Double 10-0-22, Luke Duncan 0-0-0. TEAM TOTALS: 25 7-14-60.

Three-point goals: East Palestine — 8 (Dom Posey 2, Steve Darlington 2, Abel Figley 2, Cooper Vance 1, Brandon Turcola 1). Salem — 3 (Trey Double 2, Hunter Griffith 1).

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