Newton Citizen

Photo by Howard Reed

CONYERS -- Marques McKoy and Dedrick Turner scored 14 points each and Salem held off Cedar Shoals 57-49 Tuesday in Conyers. The Seminoles, coming off an overtime loss to Osborne in nonregion play last weekend, improved to 14-7 overall and 4-2 in Region 8-AAAA.

Salem seemed to have things under control with just over six minutes to play in the game after Turner found Caneshe Green (12 points) for a bucket that made it 45-31. But the visitors from Athens fought back when Devon Scott had a field goal and a 3-pointer and putbacks by Jamhyia Mattox and Dontai Robinson were part of an 11-4 run that got the Jaguars to within 49-42 with 2:50 left. Salem put the game away when McKoy and Turner each added a pair of field goals, with Turner's coming on break away dunks off steals that pushed the advantage to 55-45 with a minute left.

"We've been playing a lot of four guards (and) on both ends (McKoy) gives us a presence down low. It causes matchup problems," said Salem coach Darren Wilkins.

Cedar Shoals (15-9, 4-3) led for the last time at 15-14 before Salem's defense tightened up, not allowing a Jaguars' point for more than five minutes. Meanwhile, the Seminoles' offense put together a 12-0 spurt and went ahead 24-15 with 5:16 to go until halftime. Salem had a nine-point lead at the break and its cushion didn't fall below seven points the rest of the night.

"Cedar's a really good team," said Wilkins. "We know they don't quit (and) we knew it was going to be tough. It's going to be hard every night."

For Cedar, Scott led all scorers with 16 points and Robinson added 12.