Skeffington’s late three helps Salem stun English

LYNN – It sure didn’t feel like a mid-December game at the Paul F. Cavanagh Field House on Thursday as the gym was rocking from the get-go between Salem and Lynn English.With the crowd at a fever pitch pretty much all game, leave it to Salem’s Brad Skeffington to steal the show at the end.The senior blocked Corey McMillen and Keandre Stanton’s lay-up attempts with the Bulldogs up two in the final seconds. He then stepped back and knocked down a three at the other end of the floor to give the Witches a lead and a scintillating 66-63 win over the four-time defending Northeastern Conference/North champions.”Brad is just tough as nails out there,” Salem coach Tommy Doyle said. “He doesn’t get a lot of shot attempts out there but he steps up and hits that three. Not to mention the huge play he made on defense at the other end.”The two teams traded salvos all night long but it looked for all the world like the Bulldogs (2-1) – who absorbed their first NEC loss in at least two years – were going to pull it out as they led 63-57 with 80 seconds remaining following two Josh Castillo free throws.Salem (2-1) cut the lead to four thanks to a pair of Chris Dunston free throws with 1:12 left. English then missed a shot but Salem couldn’t convert and the Bulldogs called time out with 44.1 seconds left to settle things down.”Salem played a great game all night. Their kids never quit working,” English coach Buzzy Barton said. “Both of us made big runs on each other all night.”Out of the time out, Salem’s Dario Medrano, who had left the game in the second quarter after crashing to the floor chasing a loose ball, caused a steal and got an easy layup to make it 63-61.English had another chance to put the game away on the next possession but Skeffington skied to block McMillen’s dunk attempt and then got a hand on Stanton’s putback effort to keep Salem alive.Antonio Reyes (22 points) flew down the floor and handed off to the trailing Skeffington, who buried a three from the left wing.”It really looked like we were going to let it get away,” Doyle said. “But the kids never quit and battled right to the end. I loved seeing that.”English had a chance to get the lead back, but Freddy Hogan’s jumper from the right corner hit the back iron and Reyes was fouled on the rebound. He calmly stepped to the line and buried both ends of a one-and-one to make it a three-point game with 10.4 seconds left.The Bulldogs got a final look but a game tying three was no good.”It was a good game,” Barton said. “My hat’s off to Salem. They deserve all the credit for coming back like they did.”Neither team could put great distance between each other all night as the Witches led 21-15 after a quarter thanks to an 8-2 run over the final three minutes.English used its pressure defense to rattle Salem in the second quarter, ripping off a 14-4 run to turn a 26-19 Salem lead into a 33-30 Bulldog lead at the break.The lead grew to 41-32 early in the third quarter as English looked ready to deliver the knockout blow. But Raphy Medrano, who led Salem with 22 points, and Reyes helped the Witches claw their way back and they used a 14-3 spurt to carry a 46-44 lead into the final quarter.”Raphy has been struggling a bit with his shot so it was nice to see him break out like he did,” Doyle said. “I think seeing his brother go down also gave him a little extra juice.”