Sallie(s), Newville show up big as Big Spring downs Schuylkill Valley in 4A Quarterfinals

With 1.6 seconds remaining in the first half of Thursday night’s matchup between Big Spring and Schuylkill Valley, Aidan Sallie turned to Big Spring head coach Jason Creek. He pointed at the man who’s been at the helm of changing the basketball culture in Newville over the past four years: himself. He said “I got it,” and on a baseline inbound, took a few steps towards the basket, ran the other way towards the three-point line, caught, shot, nailed a three before the buzzer.

“I tell people all the time, I’m not getting on the bus until Aidan Sallie gets on the bus,” said Bulldogs head coach Jason Grace. “He’s my guy. We’ve had a ton of communication, and non-verbal communication. I think he may have called on his own to me, three or four calls tonight that I didn’t think were the best. But guess what? We ran that call, because I have all the trust in the world with him.”

The shot added three points to make an 8-0 run an 11-0 run, but the impact of the shot, and those leading up to it, were much larger than the scoreboard can reflect. It gave the Bulldogs all the momentum in the world going into the halftime locker room.

Then, the Bulldogs came out blazing once again in the second half. Aidan Sallie scored the first three points of the second half, and the rest of Big Spring’s squad followed suit, putting up an identical 23 points in the third period to the second.

But, it wasn’t always a fast-firing, electric offense on the Bulldogs side. It took four minutes, 48 seconds for Big Spring to put any points on the board, trying to climb back from a 6-0 hole off two three balls from Schuylkill Valley’s Lucas Spotts and Derek Grim.

Little went right for Big Spring until late, when the offense started to come alive. Landon Sallie hit a shot, then two more from beyond the arc. His older brother, Aidan Sallie hit a three. Ayden Martinez hit a shot. All of a sudden, the hole in Big Spring’s offense was filled, and they found themselves leading 13-12 after the first quarter.

“With the energy in the building, it’s hard to come out and make shots and settle in,” said Aidan Sallie. “First three minutes go by, and you’re like ‘Ok, we’re here.’ Then, you start making shots and take it from there.”

Aidan Sallie was once again the headliner throughout the game, registering 21 points, and 14 of which in the third quarter. His freshman brother, Landon Sallie, was also huge, scoring 19 points and starting the momentum for the Bulldogs in the opening eight minutes.

Ayden Martinez, a key piece of last year’s playoff run, scored 17 points, and was the only player on either team to shoot any free throws. He went 1-for-4 from the line, but made up for it with 8 shots finding the net.

The Panthers were led by Cooper Hohenadel, who scored 12 points off four three-pointers. Lucas Spotts also reached double figures with 11 points.

Now, Big Spring and it’s faithful crowd will turn their attention to Eastern York, the #2 seed in 4A and the team that beat them by five points in last year’s District III 4A Championship game. Eastern York beat Big Spring’s rival, Boiling Springs, by three points on a buzzer beater in regulation.

“Honestly, we’ve been trying to build this culture for 12 years,” said Jason Creek, on the loud environment that Newville brings to the table. “Brick by brick, layer by layer. We talked before the game, there’s a lot of players that played for me that never got to play in front of this atmosphere and this crowd. They started this.”

“We’re trying to build a legacy,” said senior Aidan Sallie. “We’re trying to build a program to a point where it’s a normal thing, it’s an expectation. We won last year and it was an expectation to get back there this year.”

The semifinal matchup will be held on Monday, February 24 at Eastern York for a chance to go to the championship at GIANT Center in Hershey. The other semifinal is between top seed Berks Catholic and fifth-seeded Susquehanna Township.

Schuylkill Valley will play Boiling Springs on Monday, in an elimination game. The winner will advance to the fifth place game, another do-or-die scenario. The PIAA 4A tournament is taking the top five finishers from District III.

BIG SPRING 13-23-23-11 - 70

SCHUYLKILL VALLEY 12-15-10-7 - 44

BIG SPRING (70) - Ayden Martinez 17, Aidan Sallie 21, Nathan Baranoski 2, Landon Sallie 19, Alan Walker 4, Brexton Heckendorn 7

SCHUYLKILL VALLEY (44) - Lucas Spotts 11, Ervin Ortiz 2, Derek Grim 5, Tanner Staus 3, Kowen Gerner 4, Cooper Hohenadel 12, Logan Cammaur 4, Chase Keller 3