Sanford’s Mikey Dixon puts up a shot in the first half of Sanford’s 52-47 win over Salesianum at the Salesianum School on Monday night.
Sanford’s Mikey Dixon drives to the basket in the second half of Sanford’s 52-47 win over Salesianum at the Salesianum School on Monday night.
Salesianum’s Juwel Campbell puts up a shot in front of Sanford’s Jacob Walsh in the first half of Sanford’s 52-47 win over Salesianum at the Salesianum School on Monday night.
Sanford’s Mikey Dixon dunks the ball in the first half of Sanford’s 52-47 win over Salesianum at the Salesianum School on Monday night.
WILMINGTON – The Sanford boys basketball team made things very uncomfortable for Salesianum at the start Monday night.
Then the Sals made it unexpectedly uncomfortable for the Warriors late. But top-ranked Sanford hit 7 of 8 free throws in the final minute to weather Sallies’ 3-point barrage and escape with a 52-47 road victory.
“Good situations, good things to work on,” Warriors coach Stan Waterman said. “Sallies is a good team. They’re never going to quit, they’re going to keep coming at you. We knew that. As long as there’s time on the clock, you’re in a ballgame.”
The Warriors (14-2) certainly knew they were in a tight game, but held on to win their 12th straight. Salesianum (7-7) lost for the fourth time in five games, but found some bright spots in the second half.
It was all Sanford at the start. The Warriors forced four turnovers in the first four minutes, and Mikey Dixon scored on a fast-break layup and hit a 3-pointer from the left wing to put his team up 9-2 with 4:24 left in the first quarter.
“That was pretty impressive,” Waterman said. “We thought it would be important for us to get off to a quick start, and it came true.”
It didn’t stop there. Dixon drove for another layup, passed behind his back to Jacob Walsh for another easy score and dropped an 18-footer to make it 15-2 after the opening period.
“We took good shots,” Dixon said. “We played our offense, and everybody took the shots they knew they could make.”
The Sals hit only 1 of 9 in the first quarter, but made 5 of 7 in the second quarter to cut into the big deficit. Paul Brown made a free throw, then converted an alley-oop from Fahmir Ali to pull Salesianum within 24-15 at the half.
“When you make shots, all of a sudden, everybody feels better about themselves,” Sals coach Brendan Haley said.
Dixon knew it was a sign that the game was getting tighter.
“Coming into halftime, coach told us they’re not going to fold and pack up their stuff,” the senior guard said. “I think we gave them some momentum going into the second half, and when we came back out we knew it was going to be a dogfight.”
Point guard Kyle Evans ended the third quarter with a three-point play to push the Warriors’ lead to 40-30. But Sallies cut the margin to seven, then six, then five when Michael Kempski bombed his second 3-pointer to pull the Sals within 47-42 with 32.5 second to go.
“Usually, when you fall behind like that, you make a run but those games open back up,” Haley said. “… Sanford always gets those runs going where they knock off six or eight points, and then it just disheartens you. So I was really proud of the kids, that they just hung in there as they kept knocking us back.”
The Warriors knocked the Sals back for good at the line, as Evans went 4 for 4, Freddie Ryle made a pair and Dixon went 1 for 2. Kempski hit another 3 and Tariq Ingraham scored on Trevon Alderman’s assist, but it wasn’t enough.
Dixon came into the game averaging 27.4 points, and finished just a tick below that with 25. Evans added 14, and Walsh had seven points and eight rebounds.
Ingraham, a 6-foot-8 freshman, led Salesianum with 14 points and 11 rebounds. Kempski scored nine and Ali chipped in eight.
Contact Brad Myers at bmyers@delawareonline.com. Follow on Twitter: @BradMyersTNJ