Boys Basketball: Salem's strong second half propels them past Pennsville, 51-41

PENNSVILLE - Down 21-15 at the end of the first half, the Salem High School boys basketball team needed a spark.

They got it from Teron Nance.

Nance scored all 10 of his points in the second half, leading the Rams to a 51-41 victory over Pennsville in Tri-County Conference action Friday night.

Nance hit two free throws in the third quarter to put Salem ahead 27-26, then finished a layup on a fast break to give the Rams a 30-26, before hitting a 3-pointer that gave his team a five-point cushion at 33-28.

Salem outscored Pennsville 18-7 in the third and 18-13 in the fourth to improve to 5-6 overall.

"We had to sit the older guys to start the game," Salem head coach Chris Lee said. "They hadn't been performing well and the young guys gave us a heck of a first quarter."

The game was even at 10-10 after one, but Pennsville pulled ahead in the second quarter, as Colin Rieger scored seven of his team's 11 points in the frame.

Rieger scored a game-high 20 points, knocking down three 3s and going 9-for-11 from the charity stripe. Robbie Saulin chipped in with five points and nine rebounds in the defeat.

"They started pressuring us in the second half," Rieger said. "That started getting to us and we lost our heads. It shouldn't have happened."

The Eagles fell to 3-8 with the loss. The Rams will have a chance to pull to .500 on Tuesday when they host Gloucester Catholic, but face a tough stretch of games ahead with Catholic, Highland and Clayton all visiting Salem over the next 10 days.

"I tell the guys, win the quarter, win the half, win the game," Lee said. "We have some talented young men and we are taking it one step at a time, one game at a time."

Rob Edwards may be reached at redwards@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @RobEdwardsNJ. Like NJ.com HS sports on Facebook.