By Jeremy McDonald
Jeremymcdonald73@gmail.com
SALEM, Ore.– Noah Burns had the biggest shot of the game on Monday night to lift Salem Academy over Amity in PacWest Conference play on their home court.
With about seven seconds left in the game, Burns hit a go-ahead three-pointer that gave the Crusaders a 63-60 lead over the Warriors. The shot gave their defense a little more pep in their step as they quickly turned around to try to close out the game. Something that they did as they contested the two shots that Amity got off to hold off the Warriors 63-50 to improve to 3-0 in PacWest Conference play.
“Boone Dunn, he set up a great screen for me and it was a lot of instinct…it comes with the screen, without that I don’t finish my shot. Big ups for Boone for that,” the sophomore Burns said.
He, Dunn and Judson Moody combined for 49 of the Crusaders 63 points in the victory. Burns and Moody each scored 16 points each and Dunn led Salem Academy with 17 points. And boy did they need everyone of those points everyone scored, not just those three.
It was because Amity just kept clawing back into the game. Salem Academy led 30-22 in the second quarter, the Warriors clawed back to tie it at 37 during the third quarter. The Crusaders pushed back out front, leading 53-45 in the fourth quarter before Amity tied it back up, this time at 60 with 17.5 seconds remaining in the game.
Amity was resilient. And with league play fully underway now, it’s only up from here.
“We’re a resilient bunch. Everybody in there, we don’t take moral victories and it still hurts to lose, but at the end of the day I do know we played dang good basketball. When a game comes down to one shot, it’s not that one shot that makes the difference, but we were neck-and-neck with that team and they’re one of the top teams in the State and I know that,” the Warriors Head Coach Devin McShane said. “We competed, we just didn’t get it done tonight, but I love the effort and love what I saw.”
The Crusaders were resilient as well. They stayed locked in, they were looking for those slight advantages as Amity was. And on this evening, the ball bounced their way as they looked ahead to Scio on Wednesday before Blanchet on January 12.
“It’s something that we take pride in, always staying mentally tough. We know that we’re one of the more talented teams in this league and a lot of teams are going to try to get physical with us, but it’s a matter of poised and composure down the stretch and it’s something that our team is trying to take pride in,” said Burns.
Carter Haarsma led the Warriors with 19 points and Austin Lopez contributed another 15 points for Amity, who will host Blanchet on Wednesday before traveling to Santiam Christian on Friday.
Photos By Jeremy McDonald
