Staff report

SALISBURY — Salisbury-North Rowan always has been a terrific boys basketball rivalry, but the Hornets have the upper hand right now.

Sparked by 38 points by Juke Harris, the Hornets made it six wins in a row against the Cavaliers on Friday, and it wasn’t close very long. Salisbury rolled 94-47 in the Central Carolina Conference matchup.

Braylon Taylor (14), Bryce Dalton (13) and Mike Geter (11) also were in double figures for the winners. Deuce Walker did some work on the offensive board and scored eight.

Amir Alexander led the Cavaliers with 11 points.

Harris made a 3-pointer to get the party started, and with six Hornets scoring in the first quarter, the early lead swelled to 24-10.

Harris accounted for 21 points in the second quarter and scored the last two of the half to give Salisbury a secure 53-24 lead at the break.

When Hank Webb and Dalton made 3-pointers in the third quarter, the Hornets led 71-31, triggering a running clock.

North (6-7, 3-1) lost for the first time in the CCC and hasn’t tasted the thrill of beating the Hornets since the 2018-19 season.

Directed by first-year coach Albert Perkins, the Hornets (15-3, 6-0) have destroyed all of their CCC opponents, not just North. It was 80-35 against Thomasville, 91-52 against Lexington, and so on.

The Hornets have won eight straight since losing to 4A Chambers in December. They have scored 90-plus in their last three outings. They are second in the 2A West RPI rankings, with only undefeated Reidsville ahead of them.

With a Final Four being staged for boys and girls in each classification at the Joel Coliseum this year, it would be quite a story if Wake Forest recruit Harris can lead the Hornets on a title quest in Winston-Salem. Salisbury hasn’t won a boys basketball state championship since 1987.

Harris has scored 568 points in 18 games and is averaging 31.2 points er game. He has boosted his career total to 2,188 points. That’s second all-time for Rowan County males, with only Scooter Sherrill’s 2,469 points at West Rowan (1996-2000) still in front of him.

The leading scorer in the history of the SHS program, Harris also scored some points as a varsity eighth-grader at North Hills and as a freshman at West Rowan. He has scored 1,964 for the Hornets, so he could hit 2,000 in a Salisbury uniform in his next outing.

He has scored in the 40s twice this season and has been in the 30s nine times. He’s scored fewer than 20 points only once.

North Rowan     10    14     14    9   — 47

Salisbury             24   29    30    11   — 94

NORTH — Alexander 11, Maxwell 7, Polk 6, Carpenter 6, Feamster 5, Charleston 4, Williams 3, Morrow 3, Tarver 1, Wactor 1.

SALISBURY — Harris 38, Taylor 14, Dalton 13, Geter 11, Walker 8, Webb 7, House 2, T. Brown 1.