By CHRISSY SMITH
Slidell Sports Editor
SLIDELL — The Salmen Spartans boys basketball team dominated against Destrehan in a non-district home game, 64-38.
Destrehan started out the game in a zone defense, which gave the Spartans some trouble. Although up 9-0, Salmen was 0-for-5 from the three-point range.
“We played better in the second, which helped us with the win. In the first half, we weren’t getting the ball inside and attacking the zone,”?Salmen head coach Jay Carlin said, who has now won 775 games at Salmen. “We responded well in the second half, and that’s what we have to do.”
At the end of the first quarter, Salmen led 12-7.
Destrehan stayed in the zone through the second quarter, but this time, Salmen’s two three-pointers were good by Chris Vickers and Trevor Carrere. Salmen then went into a pressure defense, causing DHS to turn over the ball twice in a row. With that, Salmen took a 19-7 lead with 4:48 to go in the second period after a Vickers layup. Then Salmen’s Carrere made another three to make it 22-12.
Vickers contributed with a block, that allowed Corey Vinson to get a steal and then go down for a fast break layup.
The Spartans were up 24-13 at the half.
The third quarter belonged to Salmen as the home team put up 22 points with nine of those coming off three’s by Cody Rudoph, Jordan Pitts and Dillon Smith.Vickers also had a steal and went down for an easy layup.
Destrehan turned the ball over three times in a row, which allowed the Spartans to take a 36-18 lead.
Salmen switched to a 1-2-2 defense, which caused two more turnovers by DHS. At the end of the third quarter, Salmen led 46-20.
The Salmen starters did not play much of the fourth quarter because, with such a large lead, it was a good opportunity for some of the back-ups to get experience.
Vickers was the team’s leading scorer with 22 points, Rudolph finished with 11 points, and Pitts had seven points.
Also contributing was Ashon Cook with six points, Dwayne Williams with four, and Smith with three.
The Spartans will take on Higgins today at 4:30 p.m. in the Chalmette basketball tournament. Carlin said this will be the toughest game his team has played all season.