By Mike London
Salisbury Posat
SALISBURY — This Salisbury Hornet boys basketball team keeps plugging along.
These Hornets aren’t as scary as the previous two SHS teams, but at playoff time stats don’t matter. All that matters is finding a way to advance to the next game, to keep moving forward.
Salisbury experienced a truly dismal start in Monday’s fourth round and was in a 19-3 hole, but the Hornets climbed out of that quagmire and did it on the road at Lexington, about as tough a gym to play in as there is.
A playoff run is nothing new to head coach Albert Perkins. As a rookie Salisbury coach in 2023-34, he directed four playoff wins before losing a 76-72 tussle with Reidsville in a regional final to finish 27-4. That SHS team had Juke Harris and three other guys who were Rowan County Male Athletes of the Year during their high school careers.
Last season, Salisbury won three playoff games before running into Reidsville in Round 4. Salisbury dropped that one, 77-69, and finished 26-4.
With the massive NCHSAA reclassification for this season, the Hornets bounced from 2A up to 4A. Reidsville jumped right along with them.
Third-seeded Salisbury had a first-round bye and has won three playoff games, so Perkins is now 10-2 coaching Salisbury playoff games. The Hornets crushed Carver, sprinted past Hibriten in the fourth quarter and rallied at Lexington.
Fourth-seeded Central Davidson wasn’t the most likely regional final foe for the Hornets when the playoffs got started, but the Spartans are still trucking. They haven’t crushed anyone or embarrassed anyone, but they have beaten Lake Norman Charter, Mount Pleasant and Lincoln Charter.
Central Davidson was able to play all three of those games at home.
Lincoln Charter busted the 4A West bracket to some extent by wiping out top-seeded East Henderson, but eighth-seeded Lincoln Charter dropped a close one — 57-53 – when it went to Central Davidson.
Salisbury will take on Central Davidson at 8 p.m. on Thursday at Lenoir-Rhyne University.
Salisbury has already faced Central Davidson this season and beat the Spartans 62-48 in a semifinal in the Dale’s Sporting Goods Sam Moir Christmas Classic played in the Catawba College gym.
Salisbury also steamrolled Central Davidson 85-53 in the Moir tourney championship game last season.
It also can be noted that two of Central Davidson’s losses this season were to Lexington.
Salisbury (22-7) has to be the favorite over the Spartans, although favorites don’t always win, especially in a pressure-packed, neutral site sort of environment. Things can go wrong. Foul trouble. A rolled ankle. A bad call or a bad bounce that triggers a 10-0 run. It can happen in high school hoops.
Perkins said the key word when you’re playing Central Davidson is “discipline,” because Central Davidson plays very disciplined. They run their stuff. They believe in what they do. They’ll try to play the game in the 50s and take only high-percentage 2s or clean-look 3s.
Salisbury would prefer a quick pace with some easy transition hoops.
The constant for all three of Perkins’ strong seasons at Salisbury has been steady, dependable Braylon Taylor, a senior guard who was successfully recruited by Catawba.
While Taylor leads the Hornets with 18.4 points a game, the Hornets actually have four of the county’s top dozen scorers. The others are senior Jon Ross (13.6), freshman Royce Perkins (12.6), the coach’s son, and junior Blake Smith (11.2).
Smith is the wild card of that quartet as he might score 20 or he might score three. Whether he’s scoring big or not, he’s going to do some serious work as a rebounder and shot-blocker.
Salisbury is not real tall and is not overly deep, but it’s a tough, resilient team that shoots the ball better than a lot of people realize. The Hornets made six 3s in the second quarter at Lexington.
Darius Greene, the fifth Salisbury starter, is a streaky shooter who often contributes eight or 10 points. Jayden Jones and Jaylin Johnson are plus-athletes who provide fearless energy off the bench. Tony Pagan provides a battleship-sized body and is eager to bang inside.
Still moving forward on the East side of the bracket are the powerhouses — Reidsville (always) and Washington.
But right now, the focus for the Hornets is on Central Davidson, on winning a regional title and earning a trip to the state championship game.
