But Salisbury found a way on Monday night, carving out an ugly 54-37 2A Central Carolina Conference road win over East Davidson. East is one of the teams Salisbury must beat if it is to contend in its league. It did so, but it was not a performance suitable for general audiences. Justin Johnson and Ken Drye paced the Hornets with a modest 10 points apiece.

“We’re playing to the level of our competition,” complained Salisbury coach Drew Mathews, after watching his team stagger to 6-9 overall and 2-1 in the CCC. “That’s not good enough. When we’re better than the other team, we’re supposed to play like it.”

And the Hornets are better than rebuilding East, which lost four starters from last year’s solid squad. They are deeper, faster, bouncier and are more experienced than the Golden Eagles.

But after one half of action, the Hornets were on the short end of an unsightly 18-17 score.

“Seventeen points!” growled Hornet reserve Justin Johnson, one of the guys who finally got things going. “Hey, that’s what we average in a quarter.”

And that’s exactly what East coach Brian Cantrell was warning his team about in the home locker room at halftime.

“I thought we’d done everything we could do in the first half to be in good position,” said Cantrell, whose Eagles fell to 5-9 overall and 0-3 in the CCC. “But I told my guys at the half that Salisbury would pick up its level of play in the second half. I told them to be ready to accept the challenge.”

But the Eagles could not. A Terry Johnson layup, a Randall Jones 3-pointer, two Thad Pryor free throws and a Drye jumper gave the Hornets a 9-1 run to open the half and a 26-19 lead. And suddenly Salisbury was running full tilt and forcing turnovers. The difference in Salisbury’s emotion and enthusiasm was evident in the first few seconds.

“We knew East Davidson couldn’t roll with us,” said Justin Johnson. “We just had to take it to ‘em, make them play at our pace.”

Pryor, Salisbury’s top inside threat, picked up his fourth foul three minutes into the second half — a circumstance that threatened to short-circuit the Hornets’ charge. But it didn’t. Salisbury, keyed by some terrific team defense, actually bumped the lead up to nine points at 35-26 with Pryor riding the pine.

“The bench guys scored just two points Friday against Lexington and there’s no way we can win with two points from the bench,” said Justin Johnson. “So tonight we all wanted to step it up.”

Johnson’s fellow reserve Steven Blanton tossed in seven points — all in the second half. Role players Byran Speigner, Justin Leonard and Taylor Knauf all contributed points, which was huge in such a low-scoring contest. Another reserve, Michael Blount didn’t score but chipped in three rebounds.

The fourth quarter, in which East was forced to chase and play man-to-man was right up the Hornets’ alley. Ken Drye, playing point guard with Boo Blount slowed by an ankle injury, took over in the final frame. He dished out five assists in the quarter, including three on consecutive possessions as the Hornets put the game away. Drye isn’t as smooth as Blount, but his herky-jerky fakes, drives and dishes worked wonders against the Eagles.

“Ken really got us easy baskets off his penetration,” said Mathews. “He’s our most creative player.”

At times, the officiating was equally creative. Cantrell received a technical in the final minute when he demanded to know how a Hornet substitute went directly from the bench into the game without first reporting to the scorer’s table.

But the better team won in the end, a fact which Cantrell did not dispute.

“My guys worked their butts off and I’m proud of them,” he said. “But we couldn’t make free throws (the Eagles missed 13 foul shots) and we lost our composure as soon as Salisbury decided to really come after us. Mathews does a nice job with that team.”

SALISBURY (54) — Drye 10, B.Blount, Jones 7, Pryor 9, T.Johnson 6, J.Johnson 10, Blanton 7, Speigner 2, Daugherty, Knauf 1, Leonard 2.

EASTDAVIDSON (37) — Holbrook 1, Slate 11, Bame 6, Hames 5, Matt D. Bryant 4, Waterhouse 2, Matt H. Bryant 3, Sink 2, Jones 2, Caller 1.