The Salem Seminoles varsity basketball team shook off its recent losing skid Tuesday night, picking up a dominating 58-35 victory over Winder-Barrow in region play.

The Seminoles had been mired in an eight-game losing slump, but used a staunch defensive effort and balanced scoring to pick up their third region victory of the season.

Demyon Greenwood led all scorers with 12 points, including five in the first half, while five different Seminoles finished with eight or more points in the victory.

Salem coach Noah Harrell said the win was a comfort after suffering through the past eight contests.

“This win was a huge relief,” Harrell said. “I can’t express how big this win was for us. We’ve been in a rut, and this is a big weight lifted off of our shoulders.”

Leading 41-27 heading into the fourth quarter, Salem fought off an undeterred Bulldoggs team that trimmed Salem’s lead to 10 points midway through the quarter.

Salem had cruised to a 14-point advantage after leading by 10 at halftime, but Winder-Barrow forced nine Salem turnovers in the final period of play, starting the period on a 6-2 run.

The Bulldoggs’ comeback bid was cut short, as Salem answered Winder-Barrow’s run with a game-sealing 9-0 run. Salem’s scoring run lasted over four minutes, as the Seminoles increased their lead to 19 before the Bulldoggs’ quelled the streak with a layup at the 1:07 mark in the fourth.

Kirstopher Bridgeman started the run with a layup at the 4:34 mark and Salem went a perfect 5-of-5 from the charity stripe, closing the run with a pair of Quintavius Byrd free throws.

Brandon Hayes' layup with 67 seconds left in the game was the final basket for the Bulldoggs, as Salem ended the game on a 6-0 streak.

“It was big stopping their run in the fourth,” Harrell said. “As we grow, we have to learn to put teams away. We can’t let them stick around. Against better teams, you’re not going to be able to let them hang around, so it was good to see us finish. We’re learning and growing, but tonight was big. It was a great effort from our guys.”

Salem opened the contest on a 10-0 run fueled by six first-quarter points from Bridgeman. Salem started the quarter with consecutive layups from Greenwood before Austin Samuel buried a 3-pointer from the right corner for Salem’s seventh point to start the game.

Bridgeman hit back-to-back 3-pointers following Samuel’s basket before Winder-Barrow stopped Salem’s opening run on a CeCe Green layup.

Winder closed the final 3:28 of the first quarter on a 5-1 run, trailing 14-5 heading into the second quarter.

“A start like that is what we have been looking for during this streak," Harrell said. "We’ve wanted to see consistency out of the guys starting out the games, and tonight we finally got it. Moving forward, we’re hoping to get starts like this every game and pound other teams early. We can build off of this, and it’s good to see us have this kind of success at the start of the game because we’ve been struggling in that area.”

Salem outscored the Bulldoggs 10-9 in the second quarter, with five different Bulldoggs getting in on the scoring action. Both teams struggled to score in the period, and Salem didn’t connect on its first field goal of the second quarter until the 3:23 mark when Byrd hit an elbow jumper to push the Seminoles’ lead back to double digits.

After a Salem timeout, the Seminoles closed the half on a 7-5 run, pushing their lead to as many as 13 after Michael Green hit a 3-pointer at the top of the key with 1:41 remaining.

The Bulldoggs answered Green’s score with a shot behind the arc as time as expired, sending Salem into halftime with a 24-14 advantage.

Green converted back-to-back layups to start the third, as Salem and Winder-Barrow traded baskets over the opening four minutes of the period.

The Bulldoggs again trimmed Salem’s lead to single digits, but Chandler Davis grabbed an offensive rebound with 1:27 left in the quarter and went back up for a putback, connecting on the shot and drawing a foul. Davis converted the free-throw attempt, pushing Salem’s lead to 37-25. Byrd gave the Seminoles a 39-27 lead heading into the final quarter on a fast-break layup as time expired.

Devontae Hedgespeth and Samuel finished with nine points each for 

Salem, while Byrd and Bridgeman finished with eight apiece.

Dre King paced Winder-Barrow with 10 points.