By DAVE WOODALL
Slidell sports writer
SLIDELL – If you missed the boys’ basketball game pitting the Slidell Tigers against the Salmen Spartans Monday night, you might be the only one in town that did.
Before a standing room only crowd, the Spartans got a measure of revenge on the Tigers who had beaten them earlier in the season.
And free throws proved to be a big part of the win as the Spartans whipped the Tigers 45-35 in a non-district game.
Both teams shot poorly in the early going as both Slidell and Salmen hit only 6-of-22 shots which accounted for the low scoring first half that ended with Slidell on top 20-17.
Dietrick Stovall set the pace for Salmen hitting nine points while Travis Harrington scored seven for the Tigers.
The Salmen defense shut down the Tigers in the second half allowing them only 15 points while scoring 28 themselves.
Marc Merriman led Slidell in the second half with nine points but it wasn’t good enough to overtake Salmen.
Stovall put on a free throw clinic going 2-for-2 in the first half and 8-for-8 in the second half.
“When your point guard can hit free throws down the stretch you should be able to win quite a few games,” said Spartan coach Jay Carlin.
“We’ve been working hard and preaching to them that we believe in them and that they are capable of taking care of the ball and minimizing our turnovers and that’s what we did in the second half tonight. It was a great environment tonight and we are proud of the way the kids played.”
Amazingly, Salmen (8-3) only shot the ball four times in the fourth period and hit three of them. One of those was a three-pointer by Reese Klein.
Slidell (10-2) shot the ball nine times in the fourth period and hit only one of them.
Stovall led all scorers with 21 followed by Mike Young who had 10 points and 12 rebounds.
Anthony Mosely had eight points with Cameron Vickers and Klein picking up three apiece.
For Slidell, Merriman led with nine while Harrington and Tylor Harris each had eight. Edmond Thomas and Kolbe warren each had four and Jonathan Merriman finished with two.