The Salem Wildcats won the 7th place game at the 71st Salem Invitational Tournament as they outscored Madison in their finale 53-44. Connor Tennyson, who was selected to the 2nd Team All Tournament, finished with 12 points and 11 rebounds followed by Seth Bailey with 9 and 7 each from Sam Greene and Noah Nix.
Earlier in the day, Salem came all the way back from a 15-4 early deficit to Effingham to take a lead in the final minute, only to see the Hearts come away with 48-47 lead as the Cats couldn’t get their last second shot to go in. Salem is back in action tomorrow night when they travel to Wesclin.
The East St Louis Flyers made it 4 straight SIT titles as they held off Mount Vernon in the finals 49-44. The Flyers flew out to a 19 point lead early in the 2nd half, as tournament MVP Antwan Robinson scored 17 first half points, only to see the Rams Collin McClure hit several three’s in the 4th to eventually cut East’s lead to 1. But the Flyers defense came away with a big steal in the game’s final seconds to hold them off. The Flyers were playing without K-State recruit Macaleab Rich who was injured late in the first half of the semifinal game Friday night.
In the consolation championship, Champaign Central used 17-0 fourth quarter run to send their game with Effingham into overtime and they would eventually earn the win. TF North held off Carbondale in the 3rd place game.
Along with Robinson on the first team All Tournament was East St Louis’ Rich, Decarl Payne of Carbondale, Chris Bush of Champaign Central, Jevon Warren of TF North and Navontae Nesbit of Mount Vernon. Joining Tennyson on the 2nd Team was D’Necco Rucker and Davis Bynum of East St Louis, Garrett Wolfe of Effingham and Jamerrion Skinner of Madison.
