RallyNorth.net

Salem falls short in OT

Wednesday, March, 10 By Dave Dyer
Staff writer

MANCHESTER, N.H. — Salem suffered from a role reversal last night in the opening round of the Class L tournament.

Having lived a healthy existence for years on their outside shooting, the No. 9-seed Blue Devils not only turned cold, but they fell victim to the 3-point shooting of No. 8 Manchester Memorial.

As a result, despite a furious comeback in the fourth quarter, Salem dropped a 59-56 decision in overtime.

While hounded Salem standout Alex LaRosa was limited to just one 3-pointer, and the team as a whole was 3 for 20 from 3-point land, Memorial drilled eight 3-pointers in the first three quarters.

Shortly after Memorial sank its last 3-pointer, at which point it held a 46-35 lead in the third quarter, Salem coach E.J. Perry switched from a zone defense to a man-to-man — with excellent results.

“I feel bad that we stayed in the zone too long,” said Perry. “I’ll take responsibility ... after we switched to a man-to-man, they didn’t hit a three the rest of the game.”

Trailing by nine after the third, 46-37, the Blue Devils were still behind by five, 50-45, with just over two minutes left.

But Joe Gallant (16 points, 13 rebounds) hit three free throws to make it 50-48 and LaRosa (game-high 22 points, most of which came on nifty drives to the basket) canned his lone 3-pointer to give Salem a 51-50 lead with 14 seconds left.

However, Vincente Zenni tied it with 14 seconds remaining, sending it into overtime.

In overtime, a Jeff Meisser 3-pointer gave Salem 54-53 lead and two LaRosa free throws put the Blue Devils up, 56-55, but Memorial scored the final two field goals and a LaRosa 3-point try in the closing seconds was just off the mark, giving the host Crusaders the victory.

“The kids really battled back and I’m proud of the way they kept coming,” said Perry. “Part of it was their defense, but we just didn’t have a good shooting night.”

Forced to go inside, Salem (12-7) got a strong game from Gallant and junior classmate Mike Lorenz, who chipped in with eight points and a whopping 18 rebounds before fouling out late in regulation. His five points and 13 rebounds in the first half kept the Devill close (29-26) at the intermission.

For Memorial (13-6), athletic Shomari Morgan led with 14 points and Cormac Fitzpatrick chipped in with 14 points, 12 of which came from 3-pointers.