Salmen’s R.J. Scott scored 16 points in a defensive ballgame that saw the Spartans knock off Slidell, 40-33, in a game held Tuesday at Salmen.

“Defensively, that’s what won us the game,” Scott said. “We didn’t shoot the ball too well, so we had to rely on our defense.”

Salmen (5-0) will take its unblemished record into the Mandeville Tournament, while Slidell (2-5) began play in the Bonnabel Tourney yesterday.

Slidell'€™s Kenyati Crisp (33) takes a shot as Salmen'€™s Daron Populist (15) goes for the block during a game held Tuesday at Salmen. Also pictured for Salmen is Matt Sumpter (23). (Staff Photo by Chris Kinkaid)

Much of the scoring occurred in the first quarter.

Slidell grabbed an early 3-0 lead with 6:35 left in the first on a 3-pointer by Kenyati Crisp, who had eight. But Salmen tied the game on a trey and then Daron Populist, who scored 11 points, hit from behind the arc and gave his team a 6-3 advantage.

Slidell pulled to within one on a bucket by D.J. Dauphin, who finished with 10.

Scott pushed the lead to 9-5 when he rebounded a shot and hit a three with 4:02 left. Jared Harrison, who posted eight points, completed a 3-point play with 3:41 left in the first to make it 12-5, but Slidell came back with a 4-0 run.

Logan Jordan found Alex Hill for two and then Hill, who scored six, added two more.

Slidell closed out the opening period by scoring the final five points and led 17-9 after one.

In the second quarter, both teams struggled to score. Salmen led 20-13 with 2:46 left when Hill began a 4-0 run with a layup followed by another layup from Crisp.

Scott hit a 3-pointer and the Spartans led 23-17 with 1:43 left in the first half. Like Salmen in the first period, the Tigers finished the second quarter on a 5-0 run as Dauphin hit for two and Crisp drained a three. Salmen led 23-22 at halftime.

Slidell came out hot in a low-scoring third quarter that saw Salmen outscore Slidell, 6-5.

The Tigers tallied the first four points, taking a 26-23 advantage with 6:55 left in the third quarter.

From there SHS went ice cold and did not get another field goal until there were 18 seconds left in the game.

Salmen held a 29-27 advantage after three.

In the fourth, Salmen went up 30-27 when Harrison split from the free-throw line with 6:31 left.

Scott completed a 3-point play with 4:16 left and a 33-27 lead.

That was it for scoring until Slidell’s Jordan split from the charity stripe with 52.9 seconds remaining. Harrison came back by also splitting free throws with 50.7 to go and Populist hit both charity tosses with 30.2 to go, making it 36-28.

Dauphin broke the Tigers’ drought by hitting for two.

After Salmen made a pair of free throws, Josh Richardson hit a 3-pointer, trimming the lead to 38-33 with three seconds left. Scott finalized the scoring with two free throws with 1.7 seconds left.

Salmen coach Jay Carlin said he was happy with the way his team performed on the defensively.

“It’s the way it’s been with us. We gotta play hard and play tough to do our job on the defensive end because sometimes offensively, we’re not always clicking on all cylinders,” Carlin said.

Slidell coach Dale Chimento credited Salmen with its tough defensive play.

“Their defense is just really really well disciplined and we just have to continue to work to execute better on offense,” Chimento said.