Led by center Thad Pryor’s 21 points and 13 rebounds, coach Drew Mathews’ basketball team downed Ledford 72-65 in the Central Carolina Conference Tournament semifinals here Friday night.

Third-seeded Salisbury (12-14) and fourth-seeded High Point Central (13-11) were scheduled to meet at 2:30 p.m. for the tournament title and the CCC’s No. 2 seed for next week’s state 2A sectional playoffs. Central upset No. 1 North Rowan 60-59 on Thursday.

Ledford (11-14) was the No. 2 seed for the league tournament, but the Panthers will be No. 4 for the playoffs. The Salisbury-High Point Central loser will take the third seed. The three teams tied for second place in the regular season.

The Hornets beat High Point 72-68 in early January, then fell to the Bison 71-56 in the second meeting.

“Central’s going to come and play, and they are going to give it to their big guy (6-5 Alex Martin) inside. They’re going to put No. 20 (Willie Baker) on the wing, and they’re going to play a two-man game all night,” said Mathews. “We’ve got to contain both of them.”

“We should match up pretty good,” said Pryor, a 6-4 senior who has scored 43 points and grabbed 25 rebounds in the Hornets’ tourney wins over North Stanly and Ledford. “But once again we’ve got to come and play, whether we match up or not.”

“We’ve got our work cut out for us tomorrow. They’re playing hard an on a mission,” said Mathews of the Bison.

Pryor and Terry Johnson (12 points, seven rebounds) were too much for smaller Ledford inside last night. Johnson, a 6-4 senior forward, was the Hornets’ big first-half scorer with 10 points as Salisbury rallied from an early 15-6 deficit to lead 29-25 at intermission.

“The main thing, when we came out of the locker room, we said we were going to get in there and we’re going to try to dominate,” said Johnson.

“Thad came out and hit the boards hard. I came and hit the boards hard. ... Right then and there we just knew were going to have to control everything.”

The Hornets outrebounded Ledford 44-32.

Pryor got several early rebounds, but finished the first half with only two points and four rebounds. However, he owned the third quarter, when the Hornets outscored the Panthers 23-11 behind Pryor’s 12 points, five rebounds and two steals.

That gave the Hornets what seemed to be a comfortable 52-36 lead starting the fourth quarter, and it was still a 15-point lead, 59-44, after a Pryor basket with four minutes left.

“We dominated the game until the three-minute mark. We got to that point and, instead of making the right decisions, the best decisions, we had a mental lapse and we let them back in the game,” exclaimed Mathews.

Coach Gil Maxwell of Ledford lengthened the game the rest of the way, taking quick fouls after his Panthers made or missed a shot. Salisbury made 11 trips to the foul line, going only 13-for-22, in the final 1:58.

Meanwhile, guard Stan Smith was getting most of Ledford’s points on drives down the lane and/or foul shots. Smith scored 18 of his 21 points in the final quarter, and Ledford eventually got within five with 10.4 seconds left, but the Hornets held on.

“It left a nasty taste in my mouth, because it was too close,” said Pryor. “We missed too many free throws.”

“I thought we played as good as we could play. ... Then we got down to the last three minutes of the game, and we didn’t finish it like we should have finished it.,” said Mathews. “But we’ve got a chance tomorrow (this afternoon) to make that better and get it right.”

Terry Johnson (12), Ken Drye (10) and Markeice Daugherty (10) joined Pryor in double figures for Salisbury, which has won six of its last seven games.

Jared Hall and Sam Cecil each scored 13 for Ledford.

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NOTES: Salisbury’s last conference tournament title came in 1992, when senior Bobby Jackson, now with the NBA’s Minnesota Timberwolves, led the Hornets to victory in the 3A South Piedmont Conference. ... Salisbury went 27-for-68 (39.7 percent) on field goals and 15-for-26 on free throws, while Ledford was 22-for-55 (40 percent) from the floor and 13-for-19 at the foul line. ... Salisbury had only four turnovers through three quarters and nine for the game, while the Panthers lost the ball 16 times. ... Drye had four assists and three steals. Pryor also had three steals. ... Pryor was 8-for-15 on field goals and 5-for-9 at the foul line. ... Ledford’s Smith finished 6-for-14 on field goals, making three 3-pointers, and 6-for-6 at the foul line. He also contributed six assists and four rebounds.

SALISBURY (72) — T. Johnson 12, Drye 10, Pryor 21, B. Blount 5, J. Johnson 4, Blanton 2, Daugherty 10, Speigner 2, M. Blount 2, Jones 4, Leonard.

LEDFORD (65) — Adams 6, Hall 13, Cecil 13, Kellum 9, Bivins, Sensing, Davis 2, Smith 21, Ralls 1, Koontz, Coleman.