SALEM, West Virginia - Just before heading into the break, the Salem men's basketball team had one more holiday treat for the fans at T. Edward Davis Gymnasium before 2023 comes to a close. Salem played host to the Ohio Dominican Panthers for a mid-afternoon bash, and the Salem faithful were in for a wire to wire thriller. Salem used a late second half rally to push past the Panthers in the closing seconds 66-61.
For the first half, Salem had their hands full early as the Panthers opened up the game with some hot shooting from the field. The Tigers responded quickly to keep the pressure on the Panthers, but Ohio Dominican controlled the game for most of the half. Salem got the majority of their first half scoring from Jack Garrison IV, but the game still belonged to the Panthers 29-25 after 1 half.
In the second, Salem knew they had to move quickly in order to gain an advantage on the Panthers. They did just that with some big baskets from Ashraf Tchadouwa and Brandon Francois to take their first lead of the contest. That lead grew to as much as 7, but the Panthers were not going to go away easily. Ohio Dominican stormed back, and built up a 9 point lead with just under 7 minutes to go. With the game on the line, Salem had one more comeback to create in order to get back into the game. They found that rally behind some fierce play from Francois, who set up two Ian Hardy buckets to knot the game up at 61-61 with under 2 minutes to play. From there, the Tigers relied on clutch free throws from Kapone Barley and Hardy to seal a 66-61 thrilling home victory.
On the stats sheet, Salem was led by Ashraf Tchadouwa who controlled the paint for the Tigers with 15 points and 8 rebounds. Jack Garrison IV finished just behind him with 14 points, and Ian Hardy added a double double with 13 points and 10 rebounds. Brandon Francois also kicked in 13 points to round out the Tigers in double figures.
As previously mentioned, Salem concludes the 2023 portion of the schedule today with this statement victory. They return on January 6th of 2024 when they host the Saints of D'Youville at 1 PM in T. Edward Davis Gymnasium.
