BLUEFIELD, West Virginia - In pursuit of their 4th straight win, the Salem men's basketball team headed down south to Bluefield, West Virginia to take on Bluefield State. Salem suffered from a slow start, but rallied to make the game close in the waning moments of the contest. Unfortunately, it was the Big Blue that held onto a 96-90 win. 

In the first half, Salem found themselves behind early, but quickly battled back to keep the contest close behind key shots from Brandon Francois and Stan Smith. From there, it would be a back and forth battle the rest of the half with Bluefield State usually maintaining a slim advantage. However, Salem struggled to maintain the offensive output towards the end of the half, and the Big Blue took a 48-34 lead going into the locker room. 

Coming out to the break, it was more of the same as it appeared that Bluefield State was going to run away with a blowout win. However, the Tigers were not about to go down without a fight. They finally found their offensive footing late in the second half, and rallied to bring the game as close as 4. Riley Heatherington, Stan Smith, and Ian Hardy were all pivotal to that comeback bid due to some big shots from the outside. However, they were not quite able to completely close the gap on the Big Blue, and Bluefield State survived with a 96-90 win. 

On the stats sheet, the star of the game was Ian Hardy who dropped in 24 points off the bench for the Tigers. Riley Heatherington had a season high 17 points. Additionally, Stan Smith dropped 13 points, and Brandon Francois added 10 points. Justin Tene finished just short of a double double with 9 points and 8 rebounds. 

Despite the tough result today, Salem will be looking to get back on track on Wednesday, February 1st at 7 PM when they head up to Pennsylvania to take on the Lincoln University Lions.