BUCKHANNON, West Virginia - Back in January, Salem men's basketball rode a 42 point performance from Stan Smith to a dominant win over local rival West Virginia Wesleyan at home. In the rematch down in Buckhannon this evening, Salem completed the season sweep of the Bobcats with a big 74-38 win on the road.
In the first half, Salem bolted out to an early lead behind some strong team oriented basketball. Riley Heatherington, Markanthony Fidelis, Kapone Barley, and Ian Hardy all had big shots to open up the contest. In comparison, it was a tough night for the Bobcats offensively as the Salem defensive pressure kept the West Virginia Wesleyan scoring chances few and far between. They would muster just 15 points in the half, and Salem went into the half with some energy as Fope Okuyiga, Ashraf Tchadouwa, and Brandon Francois all scored to push the Tiger's advantage up to 35-15.
In the second, it was more of the same as the Bobcats simply could not keep up with the Tigers on this particular evening. Salem continued to make scoring chances for just about every Tiger that got into the game with Rodney Smith facilitating the offense. Justin Tene and Tchadouwa controlled the paint for the Tigers, and the combination of Smith, Smith, Fidelis, and Hardy controlled the game on the perimeter for Salem. With the game well in hand at this point, head coach Brett Rector was able to go deeper into his bench as Praise Chukwudozie, Walker Moreland, Ata Atsuren all got some valuable playing time towards the end of the half. By the final whistle, Salem ran away with a dominant 74-38 win.
On the stats sheet, one can really see the team oriented nature of this win as 11 of the 13 Tigers that saw the floor scored at least a basket, and just two scored in double figures. Stan Smith and Ashraf Tchadouwa both led Salem in scoring with 12 points. Tchadouwa pulled down 11 rebounds to earn himself a double-double for his efforts in Buckhannon this evening.
While this big win over a local rival certainly feels good, Salem will need to refocus quickly as they are set to take on the Central Pennsylvania College Knights at 5 PM on Wednesday, February 8th at T. Edward Davis Gymnasium.
