The Salem Wildcats started off good enough, holding down the potent Columbia offense for one quarter trailing just 11-9 after the first 8 minutes on the road last night. However, the Eagles found their shooting touch the rest of the game and would run the clock with a 62-30 victory. Columbia bounced back from their first loss of the season at Mizzou on Thursday night. Salem was led by Ayden Rose with 9, Kaeden Bevolo finished with 7 and Noah Nix added 4. Florida prep transfer River Randall lit up the nets for 22 points including 4 three pointers, all in the third quarter. Bellarmine University signee Sam Donald finished with 9 and 8 each from Micah James and Brody Landraf.
Salem lost the JV game by a point in overtime. Avery Gullion scored a late bucket in regulation to send the game to extra’s, Caeden Miraglia hit a short shot in overtime to give Salem the lead. That is where we would stay until Columbia got a baseline inbounds with 0.3 seconds left in extra time. They had enough time to catch the ball in the corner and then shoot and make a game winning three. Avery led Salem with 13, Miraglia and Madden Thompson had 4 each.
The Wildcats are right back in action on the road today at Nashville. The JV starts at 4:30 followed by the varsity tip around 6pm on WJBD and streaming online at wjbdradio.com. Nashville is coming in at 4-2 on the season while Salem is 1-6.
In the Cahokia last night, Breese Central routed Roxana 58-14 and Freeburg 72-39 winners over Wood River.
