SALEM, West Virginia - With late winter settling in across Harrison County, the Salem Tigers Men's Basketball team returned home for another tough matchup against another Mountain East Conference foe. This time around it was the West Virginia State Yellow Jackets who made the trip up to Salem for a midweek bash. The Tigers battled with the Yellow Jackets the whole way, but were not able to take control of the game. Salem fell by a 87-74 final score to their foes from down in Institute.
From the opening tip, Salem set the tone of the contest on the opening basket when Ashraf Tchadouwa dropping in a thunderous dunk to open the scoring for both teams. From there, the game settled into a defensive battle where every point was well earned on both sides. Salem got the majority of the scoring on the interior from punishing paint play from Tchadouwa and cutting drives into the paint from Ian Hardy and Brandon Francois. However, it would be the Yellow Jackets who took an early lead and grew it to as much as 15 points. However, Salem answered right back with a run capped by a big three pointer from Hardy to bring the deficit down to 6. However, the Yellow Jackets battled back before the half, and Salem went into the locker room with a 43-34 deficit.
In the second half, Salem shifted their focus to the interior as they made their comeback bid. Brandon Francois added the scoring punch with drives to the lane and Tchdouwa continued his dominance in the paint. Salem again brought the game within 6 points with about 8 minutes to go in the contest. However, West Virginia State was simply too hot to handle from the field, and quickly stifled the Salem rally. Ultimately, the Tigers ended up stung by the Yellow Jackets on their way to a 87-74 loss.
Despite the tough result, Salem still had some strong performance to build on for the next contest. They were led by Ian Hardy with 16 points, and Brandon Francois was just behind him with 15 points himself. Ashraf Tchdouwa added his 10th double double of the season with 12 point and 13 rebounds. Jack Garrison IV rounded out the Tigers scoring in double figures with 10 points. Kapone Barley added 10 strong rebounds alongside 7 points.
Much like Glenville State last week, in Salem's next contest, the Tigers will face a University of Charleston squad for the 3rd time this season. Salem fell in both those previous meetings, so they will be looking for some revenge on the Golden Eagles home court on February 17th at 4 PM down in Charleston, West Virginia.
