DANVERS — It was anybody’s game going into the fourth quarter at Danvers High Thursday night. Visiting Salem decided to reach out and take it.
Sparked by a couple of transition hoops to start the final eight minutes, the Witches extended a one-point lead to double digits and sprinted to the finish for a 65-54 win over Danvers.
Now 4-1, Salem got a breakout effort from senior forward Canei Mcleod with 24 points. He scored 15 of those in the second half, flashing a strong corner shot to help the Witches recover after Danvers (5-5) seized an eight-point lead in the third and also doing damage inside when the Witches attacked the paint in the fourth.
“Canei is building more and more confidence,” Salem coach Tommy Doyle said. “He can shoot it, he can score in the paint, he can rebound … he’s very, very versatile and he’s really shown some promise for us.”
Danvers led nearly the entire third quarter until Salem’s Nate Lane hit a corner 3-ball to put the visitors ahead 45-44 after 24 minutes. The Falcons offense stagnated a bit in the fourth and they had just two buckets over the first six minutes of the decisive quarter. Part of that was Salem’s swarming defense, led by Lane and sophomore captain Elian Rodriguez, and part of it was the way senior captain Rocco Ryan (12 rebounds) crashed the boards.
Another part was a few mental mistakes from the Falcons, who missed a few open looks and couldn’t quite corral a few caroms that were within their grasp.
“The moment got kind of big and we shied down a little bit, if I’m being transparent,” said Danvers coach Jabari Clarke. “It was mental IQ for the game and a little bit of toughness.
“I loved our effort. With how hard we’re going in practice, we have high expectations and it boils down to little mental mistakes. We want to minimize those as much as possible.”
Rodriguez had 15 points for Salem in the face of some tremendous defense by the Falcons. Whether it was any of Danvers’ three captains — Connor DiTomaso, Zach Calabro or Kevin Ahearn — covering the star guard, he was denied open shots on the perimeter and often couldn’t beat the man off the dribble. That meant he had to kick out and find the open man, which is where Lane (15 points) and Mcleod feasted.
“We played great defense. We kind of took their stars out of the game and, to Salem’s credit, they had other guys come in and hit some big shots,” said Clarke.
The offense was spread around for Danvers as Kyle Sillars scored 13 with 10 rebounds and Ahearn had 11 points with seven boards. Calabro scored 10 and DiTomaso added nine.
Salem was cold from the floor at the start, missing a bundle of triples as Danvers leaped out to a 10-3 lead. The Witches managed to settle in offensively with better ball movement and more inside-outside action, closing the quarter on an 8-0 run to get back into the game.
“Way too many one pass shots,” said Doyle. “We focused on better shots. Even if they’re long range, move the ball around and make sure its a good look.”
There were seven lead changes in all and DiTomaso drilled a triple to put Danvers ahead, 26-24, at the break. The hosts’ mini run to start the third put them ahead by eight (34-26) but Salem responded to tie things up in a hurry.
“A lot of it was boxing out for those key offensive rebounds that turn a 6-0 run into 6-2 or 8-4 that doesn’t carry as much weight,” Clarke noted.
Darren Taku, a junior, also gave Salem some good minutes off the bench with five rebounds.
“We locked in there late in the game,” said Doyle. “We really buckled down … but we have to find a way to do that for four quarters.”
Salem 65, Danvers 54
at Danvers High Fieldhouse
Salem 11 13 21 20 65 Danvers 10 16 18 10 54 Individual scoring Salem: Lane 6-1-15, Ryan 3-0-7, Giaff Hodge 1-0-2, Mcleod 9-3-24, Rodriguez 6-2-15, Taku 1-0-2, Tsoutsouras 0-0-0, Mesa 0-0-0. Totals 26-6-65.
Danvers: DiTomaso 4-0-9, Calabro 4-1-10, Ahearn 2-7-11, Sillars 6-1-13, Martin 3-0-8, Tirella 1-0-3, Gaudino 0-0-0. Totals 20-9-54.
Three pointers: S, Mcleod 3, Lane 2, , Rodriguez, Ryan; D, Martin 2, DiTomaso, Calabro, Tirella.
Halftime score: D, 26-24.
Records: S, 4-1; D, 5-5.