For The Dialog
WILMINGTON – Senior Mike Kempski grabbed an offensive weak-side rebound and buried a short jumper as time expired to give Salesianum a thrilling 56-55 home win over St. Elizabeth on Jan. 27. The winning play was not exactly what was drawn up by the coaching staff, but the necessary improvisation worked.
The Sals were down by a point with 11 seconds remaining when they drew up a play during their last timeout.
“The plan was to have Michael attack down the right side,” Salesianum coach Brendan Haley said. “Their coach (Matt Rubincam) changed their defense to a 1-3-1 zone and we were out of timeouts. You hope your team makes the adjustments. Mike found Darnell Vaughn, who missed the shot, but Mike somehow found the rebound and hit the shot.”
The Sals started the game strong as they hit four early deep three-pointers, two by Kempski, and a Paul Brown layup gave them a 14-5 lead with 3:32 left in the first quarter. Nate Thomas answered with a three-point play, and a Jordan Money triple cut it to 17-11. Kempski hit another triple and Sallies led, 22-14, at the end of a blazing first quarter.
Paul Brown drained a trey to put the Sals ahead, 29-19, late in the first half. Money answered with a two-handed dunk, and Thomas scored on a driving layup to cut the Sals’ lead to 31-27 at the half.
The third quarter was back and forth, but Sallies sophomore Jack Brown scored on three driving baskets to give the home team a 43-38 lead heading to the fourth quarter. Jack Brown scored on a put-back, and Vaughn hit two jumpers to make it 49-40 with 5:50 left. Then Money got hot, nailing three straight three-pointers, and Elijah Dockery scored on a layup to give the Vikings a 51-49 lead.
The Vikings’ run reached 13 points after Money hit a pair of free throws, and the visitors led by four. Kempski, however, drained a big three-pointer to cut it to 53-52. Paul Brown then scored and blocked a shot at the other end and the Sals were up by a point with 20 seconds left. Justin Money went to the line for the Vikings for a one-and-one and hit both with the Salesianum student section directly in front of him trying to distract him. That set up the great ending.
Kempski had 18 points including four three-pointers.
“Our team played hard today and fought to the end, and I hit my shots today,” he said.
Sallies (8-5) also got 10 points each from Paul and Jack Brown. The Sals’ challenging stretch of games continues on Tuesday when they travel to Appoquinimink for a 6 p.m. tip.
Money led the Vikings (7-5) with 28 points, while Thomas added 13. St. Elizabeth The Vikings is also back in action on Tuesday at Dickinson at 5:30.
