By Josh Lewis, Writer
For the third year in a row, West Washington opened up their season with a win over the Lions. Salem struggled to get shots against the West Washington zone defense, while the Senators were able to keep Salem at arms reach late from the free throw line, shooting 24 to the Lions 2 to win 64-58.
Salem started off hot from the three point line to open the game. Kaiden Romero-Hembree and Adam Mull hit back to back threes to give the Lions the early 6-1 edge. Holden Russell hit a bucket to cut the lead down but Romero-Hembree hit another triple to keep the Lions rolling early. A layup from Mull and a jumper from Braxton Dean gave the Lions a 15-9 lead before Russell hit a three to cut it 15-12 with 13 seconds left in the opening quarter.
Back to back triples from Romero-Hembree had Salem pulling away to start the second quarter. Jackson Brough hit a jumper to give Salem their largest lead 23-14. But fouls and turnovers started to mount for the Lions and West Washington started to live at the charity stripe, a trend for the rest of the game.
Russell hit two free throws to cut the Lions lead down 27-22. Carson Albertson hit a three off the bench for Salem to push the lead back out 30-25. Mull scored with about 40 seconds left to give the Lions a 32-27 advantage going into the locker room.
To open the second half Russell hit two more from the stripe and Hayden Morrow hit a three to tie the game up at 32. A three from Colton Brown gave West Washington their first lead thanks to a couple of early Salem turnovers. Romero-Hembree stopped the run with a triple of his own and another bucket in the post. Russell tied the game back up with a three and an old fashioned three point play. Free throws from Morrow gave the Senators the lead back and another old-fashioned three point play from Russell with 1.7 left in the quarter gave West Washington a 49-41 lead going into the final stanza.
Salem tried to hang around early in the fourth. Mull scored off a steal and Evan Lloyd got a three to fall to make it 51-48, but Brown answered with a three on the other end. Russell converted another three point play to push the lead out 61-52 and put the finishing touches on the win.
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total | |
| WW | 12 | 15 | 24 | 13 | 64 |
| SHS | 15 | 17 | 9 | 17 | 58 |
WW scoring: Morrow 11, Russell 32, Ables 2, Marrs 2, C. Brown 13, T. Brown 2, Batt 2
SHS scoring: Mull 15, Schocke 2, Lloyd 3, Dean 11, Brough 4, Albertson 3, Romero-Hembree 17
Threes: Morrow, Russell 2, C. Brown 2, Mull, Lloyd, Dean, Romero-Hembree 5, Albertson
Nash Ables saves a loose ball.
Kaiden Romero-Hembree goes up for 2 of his team high 17.
Holden Russell lets a three ball fly.
Photos by Josh Lewis.