RallyNorth.net

Wake-up Call : Salem erases 12-point deficit and moves on to title game

Thursday, March, 13 By Alan Siegel
Staff writer

DURHAM, N.H. | Josh Jones has rehearsed the situation hundreds of times.

It's late, the score is close, he's at the line for a one-and-one.

"I practice those free throws every day with my dad (Jeff)," he said. "It's natural."

So last night, with 10.2 seconds remaining in the fourth quarter and Salem High leading by two points, he stepped to the stripe and sank both. It sealed a berth in the Class L final for the top-seeded Blue Devils, who defeated No. 4 Manchester Central 46-42 last night at University of New Hampshire's Lundholm Gymnasium.

Saturday at 3 p.m., they'll face No. 2 Trinity in a rematch of last year's championship game.

There was no doubt, his teammates said, that Jones would come through.

"Jonesey's one of the best shooters I know," senior Kevin Sledge said. "He hits his free throws every time."

To that point, the 6-foot-3 junior guard, who was averaging 16.5 points a game, was having his quietest performance of his career. The two free throws were his only points of the evening.

"Jones struggled a little bit, they were bumping him and hitting him and trying to take him away," Salem coach E.J. Perry said. "I still said in the huddle on that last one, they're going to try to foul, get the ball to Jones or (Mike) Kimball."

It was Kimball (game-high 23 points) who put Salem (23-1) in position to secure the win. Trailing 44-42 with 22.0 seconds left, the Little Green (16-5) got the ball back after a Salem turnover.

Senior forward Michael Stys (20 points) dribbled to his right and pulled up for a 17-footer. Kimball, who guarded Stys all game, leapt and tipped the ball enough with his right hand to force the shot wide left. Jones got a hand on the miss and senior Shawn Stoodley (8 points) snatched it. Jones was fouled soon after.

"I had to 'D' up," Kimball said. "I gave (Stys) too much on that anyway."

Early on, Perry's club was giving up too much for comfort. The Blue Devils trailed 24-12 with about 3<1/2> minutes remaining in the second quarter. They then proceeded to close out the half on an 8-2 run, which Sledge capped with a layup at the buzzer.
At that point, Perry cheered up a bit.

"We've got them where we want them," he told his team at the break.
"We didn't want to be down six, but we (had been down) 12. We looked sloppy, we made that little run, which was significant."

Then, after intermission, came the barrage. A Stoodley layup then a Kimball trey (which he followed by turning to the Salem fan section and pumping his arms) kicked off a 17-4 run that gave Salem a 37-30 lead. The Little Green, however, fought back with two quick buckets by Stys to close out the third quarter.

Early in the fourth, Kimball once again came up huge, hitting another "3" and sinking a pair of free throws to push the Salem lead to 42-34. Central proceeded to go on an 8-2 run and set up the dramatic final minute.

That makes it 31 straight Class L victories for the defending champion Blue Devils, who without Jones, likely wouldn't be in the spot they are now.

"I've been playing with him since the first grade," Kimball said. "He's a big-time player. We love playing together. He's clutch."

Additional stories:

• Kimball carries Salem into final