SALEM, W.Va. (Feb. 4) – Senior guard
Jerry Sipple, III (Kansas City, Mo./Wyandotte) finished with a game-high 25 points, as the Tigers earned a 92-87 win over Davis & Elkins at the T. Edward Davis Gymnasium Thursday night.
The Salem International University men's basketball team improves to 1-6 in the Great Midwest Athletic Conference (G-MAC), 4-16 overall. Meanwhile, the Senators fall to 3-5 in league play, 8-13 overall this season.
Sipple led six Tigers in double-figures, finishing the game shooting 9-of-13 (69 percent) from the field, including a scorching 7-of-9 (78 percent) from long range. As a team, Salem International shot 18-of-30 (60 percent) from downtown.
Junior guard
Victor Blakey (Suitland, Md./Friendly) finished with a double-double, 17 points, including crucial free throws near the end of the game, and a season-high 15 assists. Sophomore forward
Gerard Tarin (Fort Myers, Fla./East Lee County) added 14 points and six rebounds, while junior forward
Dominique Robinson (Waldorf, Md./St. Mary Ryken) chipped in 13 points on a perfect 5-of-5 shooting.
Junior guard
Conrad Etchi (Burtonsville, Md./James H. Blake) and senior guard
David Williams (Canonsburg, Pa./Canon-MacMillan) rounded out the Tiger scorers with 12 and 10 points, respectively.
Salem International opened the game on a 13-4 run and made all three of its attempts from downtown to take the early lead with 14:57 left in the first half. The Senators rallied back with eight-straight points to narrow the gap to 13-12 with 12:28 until halftime, but the Tigers maintained a lead for the next five minutes.
Davis & Elkins took its first lead of the game on a three-pointer, 25-22, with 7:23 remaining in the first half. The Senators could not shake loose the Tigers, as a Sipple trey put Salem back in front, 30-28, with just under five minutes until the break. The game saw eight lead changes and two tie scores over the final five minute stretch, before Blakey drove the lane to give the Tigers a 44-43 lead heading into halftime.
The game remained tight over the first eight minutes of the second half. Davis & Elkins held a 57-56 lead with 11:55 left in the game, but the Tigers out-scored the Senators 24-to-11 over the next six minutes, capped off by a Blakey three pointer, to take a 79-68 lead with 6:19 remaining in the game.
Salem International upped its lead to 14 points, 85-71, with just under four minutes to play, before Davis & Elkins made the game interesting. The Senators scored 10 unanswered points to close the gap to 85-81 with 2:24 left in the game.
Tarin answered with a huge three pointer to rebuild the Tiger lead to seven points with 1:53 on the clock and the Tigers hit four of five from the charity stripe to close out their first G-MAC win of the season.
Salem International shot 52 percent (31-of-60) from the field, but not to be outdone the Senators converted 50 percent of their shots (29-of-58), including eight three pointers. Davis & Elkins held the advantage on the glass with a 35-to-27 rebounding edge, but the Tigers out-scored the Senators 22-to-11 in second-chance points.
Kevin Bracey-Davis led Davis & Elkins with 23 points in the loss.
The Tigers will try to keep their hot shooting up on Saturday, Feb. 6 when they travel to Vienna, West Virginia to take on Ohio Valley around 7 p.m.
