SALEM, West Virginia - With the regular season campaign coming to a close, the Salem Men's Basketball team took the time to celebrate their Seniors ahead of their final home contest as Tigers. After the festivities pregame, the fans in attendance at T. Edward Davis Gymnasium were in for a dramatic contest from wire to wire. Salem trailed late in the second half, but made a heroic comeback push that nearly brought the Tigers a dramatic victory. However, the rally fell just short, and the Tigers fell to Wheeling 96-90.
In the first half, Salem traded blows with the Cardinals early on, but quickly found the offensive chances harder and harder to come by. One of the Seniors honored pregame, Ashraf Tchadouwa, battled with several Cardinals for control of the paint, and Salem kept the pressure on the Cardinals. However, the Wheeling lead grew to 9 just before the half, and Salem went into the locker room with the 42-33 deficit.
The story of the contest really came out in the second half. Salem had their backs to the wall with a 20 point deficit and only about 13 minutes left on the clock. Head Coach Vince Thibodeau kept his team calm, and they cooked up a rally unlike many others. Salem finally got the offense going behind hot shooting from Nils Baumeisters and senior Aundre Bills. Salem had no time to waste, and they knew it as they quickly whittled the Cardinal lead down possession by possession. 3 straight Baumeister threes got the lead down to just 5, and seniors Bills and Ian Hardy added 2 more buckets to make it 90-88 with under a minute to go. However, Wheeling was eventually able to ice the game with some foul shots in the waning seconds to spoil Salem's Senior Day 96-90.
Despite the tough loss at home, Salem can hang their hats on laying it all on the line for their seniors, who include the hero of the contest Aundre Bills, Brandon Francios, Ian Hardy, and stalwart down low Ashraf Tchadouwa.
On the stats sheet, Salem was led by the career night from Nils Baumeisters who finished with 21 points off 7 for 12 shooting from the field. Ian Hardy finished with a double double of 18 points and 11 rebounds. Aundre Bills also chipped in a career high of 16 points. Ashraf Tchdouwa and Brandon Francois each added 13 points to round out the Tigers in double figures. Tchdouwa also added his 11th double double of the season with 11 rebounds.
Salem will conclude their season on Saturday, March 2nd when they head up to South Euclid, Ohio for a rematch with the Notre Dame College Falcons at 4 PM.
