Eagles Fly To Victory Over Salem Tigers
Sullivan’s boys basketball team defeated Salem 41-32 on Wednesday in the semifinals of the Class 4 District 3 tournament, advancing to Friday’s championship against St. James.
The Eagles, who were coming off a first round bye, had lost against Salem on Feb. 16.
Salem established a 10-8 lead after the first quarter.
Gabe Dace sank two 3-point buckets to pace the Eagles. With a little under a minute left in the quarter, Dace drained the second 3-pointer. Charlie Lohden stole the ball from the Tigers, but Salem would take it back. They whiffed on a chance to add more points and clung to a two-point lead.
Sullivan took the lead and never looked back as the second quarter began.
Watters tied the game on a putback and Blaine Sappington put the Eagles ahead after recovering his own missed 3-pointer and turning it into a three-point play.
Salem tied up the score on a 3-pointer, but Luke Todd scored on a fast break.
Salem got a traveling foul against them and Sullivan got possession back. Lewis landed a 3-point basket and added to the score. Gavin Dace stole the ball away from Salem and drew a foul to boot. Sullivan fought under the hoop for a basket and Salem fouled the Eagles. He Dace shot the ball but came up short and Sam Summers got the rebound and scored for Sullivan under a minute left in the first half. Sullivan led Salem 20-13.
Todd opened the second half with a 3-pointer to give the Eagles a double-digit lead.
Salem tried to bridge the gap and scored on a layup and Salem’s Head Coach Bryan Carty, took a timeout to talk to his team.
Sappington snapped and scored another two points for the Eagles. The Tigers answered back from a layup by Kaiden Gately. Salem scored two more points to end the third quarter with Sullivan ahead 29-21.
In the final quarter, Sappington added another two points for Sullivan to start things off. Salem answered back with two points of their own and Lewis scored on a free throw.
The Tigers tallied another three points and had motivation to try to bridge the gap. Salem made a huge run towards to the basket but was stopped by huge block by Gavin Dace.
Head Coach Dino McKinney, decided that would be a good time to take a timeout and talk with his team. Sullivan’s playmaking found Sappington open and under the hoop again for an easy basket. Salem’s Smith made an inside shot and Salem followed it with another layup after they danced through Sullivan’s defense. The Tigers took a timeout with a little over three minutes left on the clock. Coach McKinney took a timeout and after the game resumed Sappington missed a shot and Salem recovered the ball.
Salem fouled before they could score and Watters landed a free throw. Salem’s Coach Carty took a timeout and twenty seconds after that Todd tallied two more free throws. Coach McKinney took a timeout with under a minute left to play.
Lewis stole the ball back for Sullivan and scored on a fast break to the basket. Salem’s Smith tallied two more free throws for Sullivan and McKinney took a timeout with under a thirty seconds left to play. Todd scored two more free throws to end the game and the Eagles finished with a 41-32 victory.