By Mike London
mike.london@salisburypost.com

9th in a series of reports on local basketball teams …

SALISBURY — Salisbury’s boys basketball team was so powerful in 2023-24 that it could beat good teams by 30.

The Hornets won the Christmas Tournament championship game by 32, won the Central Carolina Conference Tournament championship game by 38 and won a third-round 2A playoff game by 32.

Salisbury averaged 81-plus points per game, while holding opponents to an average under 53. That’s a dominating team.

First-year head coach Albert Perkins orchestrated a 27-4 season that included four playoff victories and didn’t end until the Hornets lost a 76-72 struggle in the regional final against Reidsville.

“We’re going to be quite a bit different this season,” Perkins said. “But we do expect to be strong again.”

The Hornets definitely will different. Juke Harris, now a Wake Forest freshman, was an insane scorer — 31.6 points per game as a senior — a hard-to-press ball-handler, and a tall presence on the defensive end. Not only is Harris gone, so is that strong class the Hornets had around him — Mike Geter, Deuce Walker, Dashawn Brown. All were good players. Geter scored more than 800 points, not an easy feat, playing with Rowan’s all-time scoring leader. Walker and Brown weren’t shooters, but they scrapped for a lot of tough rebounds. Their fight gave an intense team its identity.

“We’re going into this season without college commits, but we do have some future college players on our team,” Perkins said. “We’ve got some good players.”

Perkins is confident that Myles Smith, a 6-foot-4 senior athlete who transferred from Charlotte’s Victory Christian will be one of the best in the CCC and the county.

“He’s a talented wing who transferred to Salisbury for his senior year, for family reasons,” Perkins said. “His little brother was already here and played jayvee for us last season. Myles is really long and he’s strong defensively and he can score in different ways. He’ll do a lot of good things.”

Junior Braylon Taylor was Salisbury’s No. 2 scorer last season with 10.3 points per game and was probably doing that in about 20 minutes per game. He’s a crafty scorer and creative finisher and playing full-time starter minutes his scoring numbers should take a jump.

“He’s gotten a little bigger, a little stronger, a little more confident, and he’s had a great preseason,” Perkins said. “He’ll handle the ball more this year as more of a combo guard instead of being a full-time shooting guard.”

Romir Hairston, a transfer from West Rowan is the younger brother of Junior Hairston, who played on West Rowan’s back-to-back state champions two decades ago. The younger Hairston isn’t as tall as Junior, who was 6-foot-7, but he’s an energetic 6-foot-2 forward who can score and rebound. He had some impactful games for the Falcons.

Tre Davis has been a role player on previous Hornet teams and has been known mostly for being able to come off the bench and make 3-pointers. Obviously there aren’t nearly as many people in front of Davis now, so he’s got a chance to earn more minutes.

Jashaun Epps was a few seats further down the bench from Davis last season, but he got into some blowouts and showed some ability to score. He’ll play a lot in the early going and will get a chance to show what he can do.

Two sophomores have moved up from the jayvees and are being counted on as major varsity contributors.

Dre Cherry is a guard. He’s the younger brother of Jamyrah Cherry, who starred for Salisbury’s girls last season.

“He was skilled enough to play on the varsity last year, but he played jayvee for the game experience, and he can be a really important player this season,” Perkins said.

Blake Smith, Myles’ younger brother, is a sophomore post. He will be counted on for rebounds and interior defense more than scoring this season, but he’s already 6-fo0t-4 and could have a future as a headliner.

Those seven are the varsity players Perkins plans to open the season with this Friday. Three jayvees have been helping out at practice.

At some point, the Hornets will get an injection of depth from the football team.

Hank Webb was a rotation player last season, averaging 4.5 points per game, while Macari House, Torian Brown and Keial Matthews all had their moments as reserves.

“I teach two classes with (head football coach Clayton) Trivett, and I want those guys to go far,” Perkins said. “But when we do get them, I’m going to be expecting those guys to be carrying themselves like dudes. Some of them have had breakout athletic seasons on the football field, and it should carry over to basketball.”

The last piece of the puzzle is Bryce Dalton, who would have been the returning starter at point guard and a team leader, but Dalton suffered a leg break just above the ankle last week playing safety for the football team.

He averaged 9.0 points last season and has scored more than 400 career points.

“We almost got him through the football season healthy,” Perkins said, “The good news is he’s had successful surgery, and we’re optimistic he may only be out about six weeks. He’s a difference-maker, and we’ll get him back for his senior season. We’ve just got to hold things together for a while with a thin team, but once we get the football players, guys will have to earn their minutes in very spirited practices.”

Players earn minutes from Perkins primarily for doing two things — offensive ball movement and defensive intensity.

“I think we’ve got a team that will defend,” he said. “And I think we’ll get a lot of points off our defense.”

Perkins is pleased that West Rowan and East Rowan have been added to the schedule.

Greg Tinsley and Horatio Everhart return to assist Perkins. Erich Epps will be missing from the bench this season.