Salem hosted North Harrison on Saturday night in a matchup between the bottom teams of the MSC, with both desperately wanting a win. Salem struggled to slow down the Cougars offense that shot 50 percent from the field, and the Lions lost 68-56. 

The Lions offense was slow coming out of the gate. Kaiden Romero-Hembree hit two free throws about three minutes into the game to get Salem on the board. Alex Wilcox got a score in the post with a few seconds left to keep Salem down two, 9-7 heading into the second quarter. 

North Harrison opened up the second quarter with a quick 6-0 spurt before a layup from Jaden Cheatwood stopped the run. Turnovers started to become an issue for the Lions that helped North Harrison stretch their lead out further to 27-17 to enter the break. 

To open the second half the Cougars drained a three to to make it a 30-17 lead. But Salem started to claw their way back in it. Jackson Brough hit a jumper and then two free throws to get Salem going. Braxton Dean scored in the lane and Wilcox hit two from the stripe to cut the lead down to six. Two more scores from Dean, along with the Lions defense helped Salem cut the lead to just four, but a Cougar three made it a 38-31 lead. A free throw from Wilcox with seven ticks left made it a 40-34 game going into the final stanza. 

Cheatwood buried a three to cut the Cougar lead to one possession but that’s as close as Salem could get. North Harrison hit a triple and then converted an old fashioned three point play to steal the momentum back from the Lions and push the lead back to double digits. Adam Mull hit a three from the corner with two minutes left to play but North Harrison again answered with a triple of their own to keep Salem from getting too close to making a comeback. Salem will host Austin on Friday before traveling to Eastern on Saturday.