Staff report

SPENCER — With all the great history and all the great teams, Salisbury’s boys basketball team had never scored 100 points in a regulation game.

But on Tuesday, the Hornets beat Lexington 100-72 on Senior Night.

On Friday, more records fell with the Hornets as the visiting team on rival North Rowan’s Senior Night. Salisbury beat the Cavaliers 107-83 in a game that was more competitive than the final score sounds. North was down six at the half and 10 going to the fourth quarter.

Salisbury had scored 104 in a two-overtime thriller with East Davidson in the 2003-04 season, but 107 will be remembered for a while.

Coached by Albert Perkins, the Hornets (21-3, 12-0) completed an undefeated conference season. That’s also a rarity. This was the third one for the program in the last 32 years, the first since the 2008-09 season.

Juke Harris scored 37 to lead the Hornets. No surprise there. He’s done it all season. He came into the game averaging 32.

Bryce Dalton scored 26 and made seven 3-pointers. There was no way to see that coming. A good player who came into the game averaging 8.3 points per game, his previous career high was 15.

“Dalton made the difference,” said Jason Causby, the North Rowan head coach who, ironically, also was the coach of Salisbury’s 2008-09 team. “He hit open shots.”

Salisbury got 12 from Mike Geter and 11 from Deuce Walker, experienced seniors who have been in a lot of big games against North on the football field, as well as in the gym.

North got a career-best 22 from Jayden Polk, while Amir Alexander and George Maxwell contributed 18 points each.

It was a night on which North retired the jersey of San Francisco 49er defensive tackle Javon Hargrave, who hooped for North Rowan’s 2011 state championship team. So there was plenty of energy in the gym, and the Cavaliers got off to an inspired start.

“It was a good effort,” Causby said. “We did a good job for the better part of three quarters. But fouls racked up and fatigue set in, and Salisbury was able to to on a run and stretch the lead out at the end of the third. We had three foul out in the fourth quarter and didn’t have anything left in the tank.”

Causby reported that North (13-11, 7-5) was awarded a forfeit for a game with East Davidson that was originally scheduled for Jan. 3 but was never played.

The Central Carolina Conference Tournament starts on Monday. North’s boys will be playing at home at 6 p.m. on Monday against West Davidson in the 4 vs. 5 game.

The winner of that game will take on Salisbury in a semifinal at 7:30 p.m. at Thomasville on Wednesday.

Salisbury’s boys and North Rowan’s girls have first-round byes in the seven–team league.

Salisbury     19     31    26    31   — 107

North           17      27    22   17    — 83

SALISBURY — Harris 37, Dalton 26, Geter 12, Walker 11, D. Brown 7, Taylor 5, Matthews 3, Webb 2, T. Brown 2, Brincefield 2.

NORTH — Polk 22, Alexander 18, Maxwell 18, Morrow 8, Charleston 5, Mosley 5, Alford 4, Tarver 3.