By Marny Hendrick

sports@salisburypost.com

SALISBURY —  The Salisbury Hornets have posted an impressive 7-0 record so far this season against some very decent 3A and 4A competition. The latest success came Wednesday night in a rugged, 72-62 battle with the Statesville Greyhounds at the Hornets’ gym.

Despite the win and some obvious bright spots, first-year coach Bryan Withers was just not a happy man after the game.

“We are just too selfish and we don’t trust each other on offense,” Withers said. “Statesville played their hearts out but a lot of it was us hurting ourselves by not doing what we are capable of doing.”

Numerous times in the game, the Hornets seemed on the verge of pulling away but each time the Greyhounds (0-4) had a answer on the boards, at the free-throw line and in the lane that allowed them to battle back.

Salisbury actually trailed, 17-6, after one period but battled back to take a 32-28 halftime lead. An Isaac Baker three-pointer gave Salisbury a 41-30 lead midway in the third period, but the Greyhounds had another comeback planned. Strong inside play by forward Tyreke Hames and BJ Moss pulled Statesville back to within 3 points after the third period and then to a single point early in the fourth quarter.

But Salisbury started pounding it inside to big men Tre Oates (6-7) and D.J. Alexander (6-4) to pull ahead by five points. Then point guard Deshawn Troutman took control in the final three minutes to  drain the clock, feed the ball inside for easy baskets and hit some key free throws.

“At the end I was able to milk the clock a little and break my defender down, ” Troutman said. “But that is my job. But we could have done a lot better on defense in the game.”

Foul problems and foul shooting played big factors in the game. Alexander and guard Alex Yang played with four fouls most of the second half while three Greyhound players fouled out. Statesville made the most of their opportunities as they hit a remarkable 27 of 32 free throws for the game, including 14 of 16 in the second half. Salisbury connected on 16 of 26 but hit the key ones down the stretch when they needed them.

Alexander led the Hornets with 18 points and 8 rebounds while Oats had 16 points and 10 rebounds. “I was able to get the touches inside tonight thanks to my guards feeding it,” Oats said. “It was tough inside tonight with a lot of banging, but I tried to keep my hands up and stay out of foul trouble.”

The talented Hornet guard tandem of Troutman and Baker contributed 15 and 12 points, respectively, to the winning effort.  The Greyhounds were led by their penetrating guard Moss with 18 points while the 6-3 Hames scored 17, including a number of put-backs on offensive rebounds. Center Jalien Calvives had 11 before fouling out late.

Promising some tough practices before Friday’s next game at North Stanly, Withers said his team will just have to get better to continue to be successful. “But we are 7-0 and I can be happy with that, I guess.”

Statesville (62) — Moss 18, Hames 17, Calvives 11, Mott 7, Dulen 5, Feller 4, Johnson , Hoffman,

Salisbury (72) — Alexander 18, Oats 16, Troutman 15, Baker 12, Fazia 4, Harris 3, Rivens 2, A. Yang 2, Moss, J. Yang, Horne.

Statesville   17  11    19    15 — 62

Salisbury   16   16   19   21 — 72