RIVETING RIVALRY: Salem de-‘Nye’s Plymouth in overtime thriller, 67-65

Salem’s Mitch Paspal drives for two of his team-high 23 points Friday night against Plymouth.
There undoubtedly have been bigger games played between Plymouth-Canton Educational Park rivals than Friday night’s Plymouth-at-Salem match-up.
But you’d be hard-pressed to find a better, more-thrilling showdown than the one that unfolded in the Rocks’ gymnasium.
After Plymouth stormed back from a 20-8 first-quarter deficit to seize a comfortable six-point advantage in overtime, the Rocks outscored the Wildcats 10-2 over the final two minutes to earn a 67-65 triumph.
With the game deadlocked at 65-65 and 14 seconds remaining in OT, Salem sophomore guard Landen Stone advanced the ball one-third of the way up the court before delivering a pass to Mitch Paspal just over half court.
Perfect final possession
Paspal then lasered a pass to Nye Turner, who banked in a six-foot shot over Plymouth defenders Cam Short and a leaping 6-foot-7 Armani Wright’s fingertips with 2.8 seconds left to cement Salem’s first KLAA West Division victory after six losses.

Plymouth’s Chayse Calvin launched a half-court shot just before the buzzer that caromed off the backboard.
The result left both teams with 1-6 records in the West. Plymouth is 6-8 overall and Salem is 5-9.
The heart-breaking loss was the Wildcats’ second in a week as they dropped a one-point OT decision to Brighton on Jan. 17.
Rocks kept believing
“We’ve been close in some division games, but we haven’t been able to get over the hump until tonight,” said Salem Head Coach Ryan Nimmerguth. “I give our guys a lot of credit because they’ve never wavered in practice. They kept listening to us coaches. They want to learn and get better.

“I’m happy that they finally got to experience the feeling of winning a ‘Park’ game.”
With Plymouth leading 63-57 and two minutes to go in the overtime, Tyler Veresh — playing in just his second varsity game after getting promoted from the Rocks’ JV squad — buried a corner three to cut his team’s deficit in half, 63-60.
Trailing 65-62 with 28.4 seconds to go, Paspal scored while being fouled and buried the free throw to even things up at 65-all.
Overturned call pivotal
On the Wildcats’ next possession, the ball went out of bounds. The officials initially ruled it was Plymouth’s ball, but the call was overturned, giving Salem an opportunity to pull off the thrilling final sequence.
“The last play was similar to what we drew up in the previous time-out, but (Plymouth) came with pressure, which changed things up a little bit,” Nimmerguth said. “It just came down to our guys making a play when they needed to.”

Plymouth’s Zerry Rue was spectacular, scoring 33 points, including a long three-point shot as the first-half buzzer sounded.
Calvin scored 10 points and Short added six.
Mitch was magnificent
Paspal was the main man for Salem in the first half, tallying 15 points while grabbing six boards.
The 6-foot-5 sophomore finished with a team-high 23 points. Turner netted 15 and Stone scored 11.
The Rocks trailed 53-48 with two minutes left in regulation when Stone hit a long three.
Luke Creighton followed with another critical triple with 1:32 to play, cutting Salem’s deficit to 55-54.
Following a Wildcat miss, Salem grabbed a short-lived 57-55 lead thanks to an and-one bucket and free throw by Paspal.
Short sent the game into overtime by knocking down two free throws with 36.4 ticks on the clock.
Ed Wright can be reached at 734-664-4657 or edwright@socialhousenews.com.