• Basketball

Write a comment

The 2022-23 version of the Salem High School boys' varsity basketball team finished the year with just one win. On Thursday, this year's Salem Lions picked up win number two, beating New Washington 59-36 in the Mitchell Cement City Classic. 

The win secured fifth place for the Lions, who suffered two losses on Wednesday in pool play. 

Salem lost to Shoals in the opening game of the tournament 51-34 and then fell to Franklin County 37-31. 

That set up the matchup with New Washington in the fifth-place game.

The Lions are now off until Jan. 5 and 6 win they have a doubleheader against Patoka Lake foes. They will face Orleans Jan. 5 in Salem and then travel to Crawford County on Jan. 6. 

Lady Senators split

After losing in the morning game of the Wabash Valley Produce Jeep Classic to Northeast Dubois, the Wast Washington Lady Senators regrouped on Thursday evening and picked up a win in the consolation game. 

West Washington defeated North Daviess 75-41 in the nightcap, securing third place in the tournament and improving their record to 110-5 on the season. 

The Lady Senators will return to the court Jan. 4 when they host Trinity Lutheran. 

Lady Lions go 1-2

The Salem girls' basketball team competed at the Wings and Rings Winter Classic hosted by Northeastern and finished 1-2 Wednesday and Thursday. 

The Lady Lions lost to East Central 37-35 on Wednesday in the opening round and followed that with a 43-31 loss to Wapahani the same day. 

In the seventh-place game Salem regrouped and routed Tipton 52-17.

The Lady Lions are 4-12 on the season and will be back on the court Jan. 2 when they travel to Borden to take on the top ranked Class A Lady Braves. 

Lady Musketeers 0-3

Eastern competed in the Donna Cheatham Classic at Scottsburg and went 0-3 in the tournament Wednesday and Thursday. 

The Lady Musketeers lost to Columbus North 73-43 Wednesday and then had two losses Thursday. 

Eastern fell to Charlestown 43-39 and then lost to Kokomo 41-39.

The Lady Musketeers are 1-14 on the season and will be back in action Jan. 4 when they host Corydon Central. 

WW boys' team plays today

West Washington will compete in the Wabash Valley Produce Jeep Classic today at Northeast Dubois. 

The Senators play Lanesville at 12:15 p.m.

The winner of that game will play the winner of the Northeast Dubois-Techumseh game at 7:45. 

The losers of the early games will play one another for the consolation at 6 p,m.

Eastern's boys play Friday and Saturday

The Musketeers aren't in a holiday tournament but do play games today and tomorrow. 

Eastern will travel to Floyd Central tonight for a game against the Highlanders and will return home Saturday to host Milan. 

Saturday's game has a varsity start time of 6:30 p.m. 

• Basketball

Write a comment

Salem hosted North Harrison on Saturday night in a matchup between the bottom teams of the MSC, with both desperately wanting a win. Salem struggled to slow down the Cougars offense that shot 50 percent from the field, and the Lions lost 68-56. 

The Lions offense was slow coming out of the gate. Kaiden Romero-Hembree hit two free throws about three minutes into the game to get Salem on the board. Alex Wilcox got a score in the post with a few seconds left to keep Salem down two, 9-7 heading into the second quarter. 

North Harrison opened up the second quarter with a quick 6-0 spurt before a layup from Jaden Cheatwood stopped the run. Turnovers started to become an issue for the Lions that helped North Harrison stretch their lead out further to 27-17 to enter the break. 

To open the second half the Cougars drained a three to to make it a 30-17 lead. But Salem started to claw their way back in it. Jackson Brough hit a jumper and then two free throws to get Salem going. Braxton Dean scored in the lane and Wilcox hit two from the stripe to cut the lead down to six. Two more scores from Dean, along with the Lions defense helped Salem cut the lead to just four, but a Cougar three made it a 38-31 lead. A free throw from Wilcox with seven ticks left made it a 40-34 game going into the final stanza. 

Cheatwood buried a three to cut the Cougar lead to one possession but that’s as close as Salem could get. North Harrison hit a triple and then converted an old fashioned three point play to steal the momentum back from the Lions and push the lead back to double digits. Adam Mull hit a three from the corner with two minutes left to play but North Harrison again answered with a triple of their own to keep Salem from getting too close to making a comeback. Salem will host Austin on Friday before traveling to Eastern on Saturday.