RallyNorth.net

It's bombs away for Salem

Friday, December, 26 By Dave Dyer
Staff writer

LAWRENCE — For senior Mike Kimball and the rest of the Salem basketball team, it was like getting a Christmas present from a distant relative — very unexpected.
Indeed, when Greater Lawrence opened and stayed with a zone against them in yesterday’s opening round of the 34th Greater Lawrence Boys Christmas Tournament at Lawrence High School yesterday, it came as a definite surprise.
“It caught us off guard,” said Kimball. “We weren’t expecting that because most teams don’t zone us.”
If it was a surprise, it was a pleasant one, however, as Kimball and the Blue Devils  put on a brilliant display of 3-point shooting in a 76-53 victory.
Salem (2-0) finished with a tournament-record 16 trifectas, breaking the old record of 13 set by Pinkerton in 1999, and Kimball (game-high 29 points) led the way with seven, which is just one short of the record set by Salem’s Chris Urquhart in 1998. Josh Jones chipped in with five 3-pointers and 19 points and Alex La Rosa had three among his 12 points.
“We’d love every team to zone us,” said Salem coach E.J. Perry. “We have the shooters to really take advantage of it, but I don’t think we’ll see much of it after today.”
Working almost entirely from the perimeter, the Blue Devils’ first five baskets were from beyond the arc and nine of their first 12 as they moved out to a 33-23 halftime lead. They put the game away with four more 3-pointers and 24 points in the third quarter.
It was evident early that the Reggies (3-1) couldn’t contain all three of Salem’s outside sharpshooters with a zone, but Greater Lawrence coach Dan Habib said that he had no other choice.
“We were forced to (zone) because we didn’t have the matchups,” said Habib. “We had a couple of kids who were being disciplined and, if we went man-to-man, we couldn’t have stopped them.”
Complicating matters for the Reggies was that usual high scorer Donald Celestin was forcing shots all night and finished with only 11 points on 4-of-18 shooting. Leandro Valdez tried to pick up the slack with 17 points, including 13 in a fairly competitive first half, but it wasn’t enough.
“I think Donald tried to do too much,” said Habib. “He tried to put the team on his shoulders instead of letting the game come to him like he usually does.”