Preview: Salem Rocks vs. Canton Chiefs
Salem is 2-8 against Canton since March of 2020 but they'll have a chance to close the gap a little bit on Friday. The Salem Rocks will be playing at home against the Canton Chiefs at 7:00 p.m. Both teams come into the match bolstered by wins in their previous matches.
Even though Salem has not done well against Hartland recently (they were 2-7 in their previous nine matchups), they didn't let the past get in their way on Tuesday. Salem walked away with a 55-48 win over Hartland. The victory made it back-to-back wins for Salem.
Multiple players turned in solid performances to lead Salem to victory, but perhaps none more so than Ryan Peters, who scored 18 points along with eight rebounds. Peters hasn't dropped below 16 points for five straight games. The team also got some help courtesy of Tommy Veresh, who scored six points along with nine rebounds.
Meanwhile, Canton had already won two in a row (a stretch where they outscored their opponents by an average of 13 points), and they went ahead and made it three on Tuesday. They came out on top against Novi by a score of 54-42. Given Canton's advantage in MaxPreps' Michigan basketball rankings (they are ranked 34th, while Novi is ranked 134th), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.
Canton got their victory on the backs of several key players, but it was Devon Pettus out in front who scored 12 points. Another player making a difference was Teddy Winstel, who scored 11 points.
Salem's win bumped their record up to 5-12. As for Canton, their win bumped their record up to 14-3.
Some high-performance offense is likely on the agenda as the pair are some of the highest scoring teams in the league. Salem hasn't had any problem running up the score this season, having averaged 55.7 points per game. However, it's not like Canton struggles in that department as they've been averaging 56.1 points per game. With both teams so easily able to put up points, the only question left is who can run the score up higher.
Salem and Canton were neck-and-neck in their previous matchup back in January, but Salem came up empty-handed after a 53-52 loss. Will Salem have more luck at home instead of on the road? Check MaxPreps after the match for a full breakdown of the game, commentary, and other basketball content.
