From staff reports
Salisbury’s boys claimed the No. 1 seed for the Dale’s Sportings Goods Sam Moir Christmas Classic by winning at West Stanly, 82-62, on Thursday.
A loss would’ve dropped the Hornets (5-2) all the way down to the fourth seed in the bunched-up Christmas pairings, but they took care of business.
“We hadn’t played in 12 days, so we had to shake some rust off early,” Salisbury coach Bryan Withers said. “But this team has played hard all year and they’re starting to accomplish some things. We talked about getting that No. 1 seed. The guys wanted it, and they earned it.”
Will Leckonby did most of the damage for the Hornets in the first half from the 3-point line. He finished with six 3-pointers, 19 points and seven rebounds.
Tre Oats had 18 points, 14 rebounds and five blocks and took over the game in the third quarter as the Hornets stretched a 10-point halftime edge to a 20-point cushhion.
“And Trell Baker is the one who made us go,” Wither said. “We were able to speed up the game in the third quarter to the tempo that we want to play.”
Baker only scored four points, but he collected a season-high 11 assists. Byron Goodlett and Shaleek Williams added eight points each.
Reserves played the fourth quarter for the Hornets. All 13 Hornets who dressed, scored.
West Stanly (10-3) got 22 points from Adafe Price and 18 from Brandon Sturdivant.
Both of Salisbury’s losses were to 4A Greensboro Smith.
As the No. 1 seed in the Christmas tournament, the Hornets will play at 4:30 p.m. on Dec. 28 at Catawba. They’ll take on No. 8 South Rowan.

Salisbury 82, W. Stanly 62

SALISBURY (5-2)
Leckonby 19, Oats 18, Williams 8, Goodlett 8, Moss 6, Harris 4, Baker 4, Fisher 4, Davis 4, Gill 2, T. Mashore 2, R. Mashore 2, Robinson 1.
WEST STANLY (10-3)
Price 22, Sturdivant 18, Whitley 11, Greene 5, Izaguirre 3, Phillips 2, Austin 1

Salisbury 14 23 28 17 — 82
W. Stanly 12 15 18 15 — 62

Hoops tournament
Seeds for the Dale’s Spporting Goods Christmas Classic were finalized by Salisbury’s road wins on Thursday.
The Salisbury girls breezed to a 55-29 victory at West Stanly to wrap up the No. 1 seed.
Salisbury (6-1) held West Stanly to four points in the second quarter to build a 25-13 halftime lead and blew the game open by holding the Colts to five points in the third quarter.
Salisbury’s girls will play No. 8 seed North Rowan in the first round at 3 p.m.
While both SHS teams are No. 1 seeds, both Carson teams are No. 2 seeds.
The tournament will be held Dec. 28-30 at Catawba, with eight games daily.
Salisbury, South Rowan, Carson and Davie’s teams are playing back-to-back on the first day.
North Rowan’s teams are the defending champs.
Tournament passes for adults for all three days cost $20. Daily admission is $8 for adults and $5 for ages 5-17.

FIRST ROUND
Game 1 – 9:00 – Girls – (3) West Rowan vs. (6) East Rowan
Game 2 – 10:30 – Boys – (3) Davie vs. (6) Mooresville
Game 3 – 12:00 – Girls – (2) Carson vs. (7) Davie
Game 4 – 1:30 – Boys – (2) Carson vs. (7) East Rowan
Game 5 – 3:00 – Girls – (1) Salisbury vs. (8) North Rowan
Game 6 – 4:30 – Boys – (1) Salisbury vs. (8) South Rowan
Game 7 – 6:00 – Girls – (4) Mooresville vs. (5) South Rowan
Game 8 – 7:30 – Boys – (4) West Rowan vs. (5) North Rowan

Prep wrestling
South Rowan and A.L. Brown are among 75 teams competing in the Holy Angels tournament at Bojangles Coliseum, Dec. 28-29.