Salesianum holds off Middletown’s late run

MIDDLETOWN — Salesianum’s basketball team watched the losses pile up while battling the likes of Neumann-Goretti, Imhotep Charter and Roman Catholic in the opening weeks of the season. But those days seem further and further away as the Sals move into the heart of the season.

Sallies, ranked fifth in the latest Delaware Live top 10, raced out to a 15-point lead at No. 7 Middletown on Jan. 25, then turned away every Cavaliers comeback attempt in a 66-58 win. It was the Sals’ third straight victory.

The game was tight in the opening minutes, but after Jaden Rogers tied it at 7 with a three-point shot, Salesianum scored the next 15 points. Kareem Thomas got the party started when he hit from distance. Two teammates, Isaiah Hynson and Brett O’Hara, also added triples during the run.

Thomas helped the Sals to their biggest lead of the first half with another three-pointer that put his team up, 32-14. But Middletown finished the half on a 10-1 run starting with a Nile Ahmad basket and ending with Amir Cunningham stealing an inbounds pass and scoring on a layup that cut the Sals’ lead to 34-25 at the break.

Hynson sent the Sals into the final quarter with a 12-point lead by nailing a three-pointer at the buzzer, but the Cavaliers were not yet done. A few minutes into the fourth, Jaiden McGhee turned a Sallies turnover into a three-pointer, cutting the Sals’ lead to just seven.

But Justin Molen went to work after that. He scored on a three-point shot, then after a missed shot by Middletown, he slashed his way to a layup, getting the lead back to 12. The Cavaliers called timeout, but Molen ran his own personal scoring streak to seven with another field goal.

The Cavaliers put together one last mini-rally, but the Sals sealed the win with six free throws in 10 attempts down the stretch.

Final statistics for Salesianum were not available Tuesday night. The Sals (4-6), winners of three straight, host Smyrna on Friday at 7:30 p.m.

Ty’Renne Hynson had 16 to pace the Cavaliers. A total of nine players got on the scoreboard. Middletown fell to 7-5 and is on the road against neighboring St. Georges Tech on Friday at 5 p.m.