By Josh Lewis, Writer
The Lions basketball team picked up their first win of the season on Saturday night over Mitchell 64-50. Salem’s defense frustrated the Bluejackets all night and allowed them to pull away late to get the win.
Salem came out with a hot shooting hand. Evan Lloyd hit back to back threes from the corner to put the Lions ahead 6-2. Mitchell hit a triple to answer, but a score in the post from Braxton Dean and two threes from Carson Albertson put the Lions ahead 14-10 going into the second quarter.
Lloyd hit another three to open the third quarter and back to back buckets from Kaiden Romero-Hembree pushed the lead out 21-12. But a couple of Salem turnovers opened the door for Mitchell to start chipping away. Ethan Campbell hit a jumper with seconds left in the half to make it 25-19 going into the break.
Romero-Hembree completed an old fashioned three point play and helped Salem stretch their lead back out. Lloyd got a steal and then raced for a layup that pushed the Lions lead to 23-23. But the Bluejackets kept chipping away and hit a layup at the buzzer to cut the Salem lead 42-35 going into the final stanza.
To open the fourth Albertson hit a three, and the Lions defense started creating some chaos for Mitchell. Turnovers allowed Salem to get out and run and get some layups and start putting the game away. Salem built a 58-38 lead late in the fourth as they hit plenty of free throws to hold off any Mitchell rally and seal their first win of the season.
Salem will shoot for their second win of the season when they travel to New Washington on Tuesday night.
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total | |
| MHS | 10 | 9 | 14 | 17 | 50 |
| SHS | 14 | 11 | 17 | 22 | 64 |
MHS scoring: Robertson 9, Chenault 2, Pridemore 10, Mosier 9, Woods 2, Floerke 3, Robinson 13, Goodman 2
SHS scoring: Mull 5, Lloyd 20, Dean 11, Romero-Hembree 15, Albertson 11, Campbell 2
Threes: Pridemore 2, Mosier, Floerke, Lloyd 4, Albertson 3
Evan Lloyd puts up one of his four threes in the game.