NORWOOD — The Salem boys basketball team was locked in a nearly dead-even game at halftime and even had a chance to grab the lead heading into the fourth quarter, but the No. 10 Witches were the victim of some absolutely pinpoint shooting from No. 7 Norwood in the fourth quarter and ended up falling by a score of 78-63 in a Division 2 tournament Round of 16 game on the road at Nolet Johnson Court Monday night.
“It was just one of those things where we ran into a team that got red-hot at the right time, and we just couldn’t come back from that huge run in the fourth,” said Salem coach Tom Doyle. “Our guys played incredibly hard the whole way and got off to a great start, but in the end we just ran into a hot team.”
Salem was led by junior Chris Qirjazi, who finished with 15 points and four rebounds in the loss. Treston Abreu finished with 12 points despite struggling with foul trouble all game long, while Darlin Santiago was close behind with 10 points and three rebounds. Jack Doyle and Angel Tejada each had six points, while Brayson Green finished with five points and two rebounds.
But while the Witches had three players finish in double figures, some of the big struggles on the night were turnovers and foul trouble.
“The turnovers and foul trouble hurt us at times, but we really played a solid game overall,” said Doyle. “But once Norwood got hot and started rolling, it was tough to slow things down and stop them.”
Salem actually got off to a solid start in the first quarter, jumping ahead 13-6 and knocking down some early 3-pointers. The Witches forced Norwood into an early timeout and ended up taking a 21-13 lead into the start of the second quarter.
But things slowly began to turn from there.
It started with a 6-0 run by the Mustangs to open the second, then a successful and-one gave Norwood its first lead of the game at 22-21. Salem began to struggle with foul trouble at this point, as the Witches had already racked up seven with five minutes still to play in the half.
Still, the two teams continued to battle back and forth before Norwood took a 32-30 lead into the halftime break.
Norwood was only able to slightly extend its lead in the third quarter, but the fourth is where things got out of hand. After taking a six-point lead into the final frame, the Mustangs went on a 19-2 run over the first four minutes of the quarter to take a 23-point lead and effectively run away with the win.
Salem closes out the season at 18-4.
“It was an outstanding season for us after we came in not knowing what to expect,” said Doyle. “We lost a lot of kids last year and had a bunch of guys step up this season, and it was a really special group to coach.”
