From staff reports
LINCOLNTON — Salisbury’s boys basketball team lost its third straight game on Saturday night, falling 75-68 at Lincolnton.
While the Hornets have dropped three straight, it’s been three straight on the road, all to winning teams. Lincolnton is 6-4. The other losses were to undefeated Carson and Dudley (5-3).
The Hornets (5-3) put five men in double figures against the Wolves. Jon Ross led with 16 points. Braylon Taylor scored 15, bumping his career total to 978. Blake Smith scored 14, freshman Royce Perkins had 11, and Nacirema Shipp had a season-high 10.
A nine-point second quarter led to a seven-point halftime deficit. The Hornets scored 44 in the second half, but Lincolnton held on.
“We’re scoring enough points to win,” Salisbury head coach Albert Perkins said. “We’ve just got to care more about the defensive end. We’ve got to take it more seriously.”
Taylor and Smith pulled down nine rebounds each and both blocked three shots. Perkins had four assists.
Salisbury is the No. 3 seed for the Christmas tourney and will take on No. 6 North Rowan in the first round.
Salisbury 15 9 22 22 — 68
Lincolnton 15 16 21 23 — 75
SALISBURY scoring — Ross 16, Taylor 15, Smith 14, Perkins 11, Shipp 10, Pagan 2.
•••
NORWOOD — South Rowan led 12-0 early, but South Stanly came back to beat the Raiders 64-49 in non-conference boys basketball played on Friday.
‘It looked like we were going to blow them out of the gym,” South Rowan head coach Justin Pauley. “But we turned it over and let them climb back in it.”
Pauley’s son, Anderson, did most of the early damage for South Rowan. He had a favorable matchup and scored 10 of his 14 points in the first quarter. But Pauley wasn’t feeling well by the second half and was in the emergency room early Saturday morning. He underwent surgery and is going to be out for a while. The freshman, who is South’s leading scorer, is recovering, but he will be watching the Christmas tournament from the bench.
South Stanly trailed by two at the break, but pulled away in the second half.
Aaiden Sechler led South Rowan (2-6) with a career-best 17 points. He made four 3-pointers. Maverick Morgan made three 3s and scored 11.
South Stanly (2-5) got 15 points each from Josiah Holt and Caiden Ritzheimer.
South Rowan is seeded seventh in the Christmas tourney.
South Rowan 17 8 14 10 — 49
South Stanly 13 14 20 17 — 64
SR — Sechler 17, Pauley 14, Morgan 11, Beaver 2, Robinson 2, Kluttz 2, Pharr 1.
SS — Holt 15, Ritzheimer 15, Woods 11, Biles 10, Callicutt 9, Hefland 3, Broadway 1.
