The Salem Tigers faced woes in a pair of matchups against other local Tigers last week.
Salem suffered second-half struggles against the Waynesville Tigers Tuesday, Dec. 9 at Waynesville, falling 55-43 before being defeated by the St. James Tigers 68-49 Friday, Dec. 12 at the Salem High gym.
The losses dropped Salem to 3-3 on the season.
Salem has one final contest before the holiday break, at Camdenton Thursday, Dec. 18. Salem will return to action after Christmas in the Cabool Holiday Tournament Dec. 26-30.
Dec. 12 - St. James 68, Salem 49: It was the second time in as many weeks that St. James topped Salem. The two also met in the semifinals of the Sullivan FCNB Bank-It Tournament the previous week.
St. James’ sophomore guard Isaac Smith fired in a triple within the first 20 seconds of the contest, and St. James led the rest of the way. Sophomore Eli Wofford answered with a putback quickly after, but that was the last of Salem’s offense for several minutes as St. James continued to build on its lead. Junior Tyson Connors hit a pair of free throws to stop the scoreless run and cut the gap to seven nearing the end of the period, but St. James quickly responded and extended its lead 20-7 after the first.
St. James senior guard Tate Gruver hit three straight triples to open the second, expanding St. James’ double-digit lead to over 20 points. Shooting woes and points off of turnovers were especially costly for Salem before halftime. For every basket Salem scored, including senior Braiden Gapsch’s deep trey midway through the second and Connors’ corner 3-pointer shortly after, St. James had an answer of their own. Junior Ryan Cunningham hit Salem’s fourth from beyond the arc in the second to cut the lead to 14 points, 36-22 with a few moments remaining before the break. Senior Aiden Boone converted on a free throw with two seconds before halftime to give St. James a 40-25 advantage going into the break.
Salem’s deficit swelled to as many as 20 again in the third period. Wofford completed a three-point play and scored a fastbreak layup with seconds left in the quarter to cut it back down to 14, but a St. James’ layup at the buzzer made it 54-38 with a quarter to play.
Foul trouble plagued Salem in the fourth quarter. The Tigers had four players with four fouls in the quarter, and senior Gavin Sapaugh fouled out with four minutes remaining as Salem trailed 61-43. Wofford fouled out 16 seconds later. Senior Hayden Ragsdale also got five fouls with about a minute to play in the game, followed by Gapsch hitting the bench with :43 left. St. James hit three free throws to close out the game.
Gapsch paced Salem with 14 points, while Cunningham added 10. Four players scored in double figures for St. James.
St. James won the JV game 38-23.
The individual scoring (FG-FT-TP):
Salem (3-3): Cunningham 3-2-10, Thomas 1-0-2, Halinar 1-2-4, Connors 1-2-5, Gapsch 5-0-14, Sapaugh 2-1-5, Wofford 4-1-9, Totals 17-8-49.
St. James (3-3): Boone 6-2-14, Gruver 7-3-21, Gleason 5-3-13, Smith 3-7-14, Meurer 1-0-2, J. Spurgeon 1-2-4, Totals 23-17-68.
The score by periods:
St. James 20 20 14 14-68
Salem 7 18 13 11-49
Dec. 9 - Waynesville 55, Salem 43: Gapsch and Sapaugh paced Salem early, combining for nine points in the opening quarter to give Salem a 14-10 edge going into the second.
It was difficult for either team to come by offense before halftime. Gapsch netted four and junior Ryan Halinar nailed a free throw to consist of Salem’s only points before the break. Salem held onto a 19-14 lead at halftime.
From there, Waynesville gained momentum off the hot-hand from senior Codye Black, who netted three triples in third to put Waynesville ahead 37-30 with a quarter to play.
Salem was unable to piece together a comeback in the final quarter as Waynesville continued to roll off the efforts of Black and a 13-point showing from junior Jerome Shelton in the fourth period.
Gapsch paced Salem with 15 points, while Sapaugh added 12 points and 10 rebounds. Wofford added eight points, and Wofford and senior Lincoln Thomas pulled down seven boards each.
Black led all scorers with 17 points, including five treys.
The JV Salem Tigers dropped a heartbreaker 40-36 in double overtime.
The individual scoring:
Salem: Cunningham 1-0-3, Thomas 1-0-2, Halinar 0-1-1, Connors 1-0-2, Gapsch 5-2-15, Sapaugh 4-4-12, Wofford 4-0-8.
Waynesville (3-1): Black 6-0-17, Jackson 4-1-9, Shelton 6-6-12, Reynolds 1-0-2, Gonzales 1-1-3.
The score by periods
Salem 14 5 11 13-43
Waynesville 10 4 23 18-55
