By Jeremy McDonald
Jeremymcdonald73@gmail.com
SALEM, Ore.– The North Salem Boys Basketball team made things interesting during Tuesday night’s Central Valley Conference game against McNary at home.
Coming off a tough second half to West Salem to start league play on Friday, North Salem came out in the back 16 minutes of the game and looked sharper than they did a few days ago.
They had their runs. Their defense locked in. The Vikings led 29-27 early in the third quarter and came back from deficits of seven points and ten points in the second half to make it a three-point game at the end of those rallies as they put the pressure on the Celtics to close out the game against them on their home court.
The big weakness, their kryptonite on this night, was their consistency. It was better compared to their game against the Titans, but they are getting there as they go through the first loop through CVC play.
“We just got to play four quarters. Play as a team, play together, but be more disciplined. They did a great job of executing in the second half and we didn’t. We got to sustain our effort and sustain our discipline the whole time. We’re working on it. We’re getting closer, these guys worked hard and they stayed together. They kept their heads up,” said North Salem Head Coach Hemingway Huynh. “All you can do is compete and I love that they always compete.”
McNary turned to their depth and veteraned squad to withstand North Salem’s runs. Especially there at the end of the game.
The Celtics led the Vikings 45-42 with 5:41 left in the game following Rafael Ochoa’s ‘And-One’, North Salem just coming back from trailing 43-33 about a minute or so earlier, but McNary stayed locked in. They spread the ball around on offense. They want to push the tempo on offense. They want to rely on their defense to close out such games as against North and, as it did throughout the game, came through when they needed it the most.
The Celts closed out the 62-54 victory on a 17-8 advantage over those final 5:41 of the game to win their seventh-straight victory on ninth on the season. All the while, improving to 2-0 in Central Valley Conference play going into Friday’s big game with West Salem.
“I really like this North Salem team, they have some guys who are not afraid and they compete. I love their point guard, Alvarez has been here for four years and he’s just a bulldog out there,” said McNary Head Coach Ryan Kirsch. “We know that if we’re not ready, these teams will beat you and I think it makes it tougher with every game that we play. It forces you to stay focused the entire time and we’re going to celebrate tonight, go to bed and then tomorrow, we have to get up and figure out a way and prepare for West.
Anthony Fuentes and Ryan Skinner each led the Celtics with 13 points. Isaiah Vargas led the Vikings, who will play at South Salem on Friday, with 14 points.
Photos By Jeremy McDonald
