SALEM — Facing a triangle-and-two defense is nothing new for the Salem boys basketball team. In fact, opponents playing junior guards Christian Dunston and Marvin Baez man-to-man with the other players sitting in a three-man zone is almost part of the script now.
The Witches hadn't seen that defense played quite as aggressively as Lynn English played it last night, however.
Baez and Dunston combined for 25 of Salem's 27 first-half points, but the Bulldogs made the defensive switch at halftime and Salem's dynamic duo was held to a combined four points after the break. English then pulled away for a 61-52 victory that put it in the driver's seat in the chase for the Northeastern Conference North title.
English is 11-4 overall and 9-4 in the NEC, now with a two-game lead over Salem and a game ahead of Beverly, its opponent Friday night.
"Playing against the triangle is something we've been working on and we have prepared for it, but it definitely threw us for a little loop tonight," Salem coach Tom Doyle said. "We didn't play as aggressively once they went to that and they did a great job with it. They had two very good defenders on Christian and Marvin and then with (English's) Keandre Stanton behind them, it's not a bad combination."
English scored the first seven points of the second half after switching defenses, then it scored the first seven points of the fourth quarter.
Salem turned the ball over frequently in the second half, and the Witches couldn't get any consistent scoring from anyone after intermission.
"Those are the only two kids that scored in the first half and we knew that coming in, but we didn't think we'd have to go with anything gimmicky with them," Lynn English coach Mike Carr said. "It's just a testament to the way our kids went out and played. We don't use the triangle too often so for them to come out and play it as well as we did today was a feather in their cap."
Freshman Stevie Collins and junior Kadeem Greene were the two English defenders who spent the most time chasing Baez and Dunston. Baez connected on one free throw and one three-pointer in the third quarter, and Dunston was shut out in the second half.
Baez finished with 19 points to lead Salem, while Dunston contributed 10 points.
Salem junior guard Billy Muse, usually a dangerous three-point threat, started the game cold and couldn't shoot English out of the triangle-and-two defense. He ended up scoring all 10 of his points in the second half, but it wasn't enough.
"We didn't shoot a great percentage tonight," Doyle said. "That enabled them to play the triangle because other guys either didn't knock down the shots or they just did a great job defensively."
Stanton, Lynn English's 6-foot-6 senior center, blocked and altered shots at the back of that three-man zone throughout the second half and he destroyed the Witches on the offensive glass.
Five of Stanton's hoops came off offensive rebounds and he finished with a game-high 24 points. Greene added 12 points for the Bulldogs, while Gibron Morillo pitched in 11.
"Defensively, overall I thought we did a great job in the first half, except the last couple minutes we let Keandre get some easy buckets off offensive rebounds," Doyle said. "That was one of the main things we focused on, trying to make him score some tough hoops. We gave him some easy buckets that gave them some momentum going into the second half."
