By Brian Hoffman
The Salem Spartans will be home Friday for a River Ridge District basketball game against Christiansburg with a chance to even their overall record. Salem is 3-4 after losing to Patrick Henry at Salem High Tuesday.
The Patriots came out on fire and hit 14 three pointers for the night, accounting for 42 points in an 84-59 win over the Spartans. The smaller Salemites packed in a zone to try and counter Patrick Henry’s size advantage but it came back to bite them.
“They shot it well,” said Salem coach Kevin Garst. “We played a zone and did what we wanted to do, but they beat us with their outside shooting.”
Kam Brown led the Spartans with 16 points while LaMarius Foxx had nine and Marvin Fields had eight.
The loss was Salem’s second in a row. Last Friday at home visiting Blacksburg took a 74-50 win over Salem. The Bruins jumped off to a 23-9 lead after the first quarter but Salem held serve in the second period and trailed 38-25 at the half. Blacksburg increased the lead to 57-40 after three quarters and Salem never got any closer.
Grant Clemens was four for seven on three point goals to lead Salem with 16 points while Jayden Johnson had seven. Blacksburg was led by Wade Bland who hit 13 of 16 shots, including six of seven threes, for a game high 34 points.
Last Wednesday the Spartans hosted Rockbridge and pulled out a 63-61 win. Foxx had 18 points and four steals, Clemens had 15 pints and Cam Boles had 10. Clayton Davidson dished out five assists in the win.
The Spartans will close out their pre-Christmas schedule with two games next week. They’re at Hidden Valley on Tuesday and home to Staunton River on Thursday, December 22nd.
