LANDIS — After being humbled big-time by mighty West Rowan, South Rowan needed to regroup over the Thanksgiving holidays.

Mission accomplished. Tuesday night, the Raiders showed everyone they are hardly turkeys, crushing visiting Salisbury 88-71. That’s right. The same Salisbury team that had thrashed the Raiders (2-2) by 10 points earlier this season.

The way South coach John Davis saw it, it was a classic case of the tough getting going when the going got tough.

“It shows what hard work can do,” said Davis. “What West did to us (92-59) was not pretty. Then we had a couple of practices that weren’t the best. But then we had a little pow-wow and tonight our kids responded very well. We showed we’ve got a group of guys who are determined to have a good season.”

South will certainly have a good season if it can shoot like it did against the Hornets. The Raiders looked a lot more like the team that took East Rowan apart by 22 on opening night and a lot less like the team that got whipped at Salisbury and pillaged by towering West in Mount Ulla.

“It was definitely good to be home,” said Davis. “Now what we’ve got to do is to start shooting it like this on the road.”

South will be hard-pressed to match last night’s accuracy wherever it plays. The Raiders shot 50 percent from the field, and a lot of it was from deep. They made seven 3s.

Senior Doug Daugherty was simply unconscious, raining in 31 points from all angles. Daugherty was 0-for-1 on dunks, but 11-for-16 otherwise, including four 3-pointers. His previous single-game high was 26 last season against Davie County. He’s had 53 points in two games this year with Salisbury, so don’t look for Hornet coach Drew Mathews to buy him any Christmas presents.

“Doug can light it up,” said Davis, not exactly revealing classified information. “He made one tonight from NBA range. He was shooting the ball at times before he even looked at the rim.”

And as awesome as Daugherty was (except for that dunk attempt), senior guard Tore’ Girty may have been even better.

“Tore’ had his finest game ever at South,” said Davis. “He hit key shots. He’s coming on. He was unbelievable in practice over Thanksgiving.”

Girty, of course, is a strong, silent football star, who is just starting to get his shooting rhythm back. This was his first start of the season. It won’t be his last. He had a career-best 20 points, shot 7-for-13 from the field and even though he’s under six feet tall, skied for a team-high 15 rebounds.

Davis also got another hard-nosed game out of Maurice Torrence, who lived up to his nickname of “Reece the Beast” with 13 points and 11 boards, despite early foul trouble. Torrence is only 6-2, but was a dominant force in the paint against the Hornets, who are one of the few teams the Raiders can look in the eye. South also got nice floor games out of Marquette Diggs and Nathan Kennedy, who helped set up Daugherty and Girty’s heroics.

Meanwhile, the Hornets (2-2) were shooting just 32 percent, turning the ball over too much and getting kicked in the glass by Girty and Torrence.

“Our defense was awful,” said Mathews, who’s still missing point guard Boo Blount and has lost four other veterans since the season began. “We allowed South all the dribble penetration they wanted and they killed us on the boards. When that happens, you’re looking at a bad night.”

Mathews got decent games out of Markeice Daugherty (14 points), Ken Drye (12 points, eight boards) and Taylor Knauf (nine points, five boards), but the Raiders contained hotshot guard Randall Jones, who came in averaging 27 ppg.

“Jones had a big night against us the first time and he’s been having big nights against everyone else, too” said Davis. “We did a good job of denying him clean looks and contesting him. We wanted him to earn what he got.”

Jones got just 11 points on 4-for-19 shooting. Kennedy, Diggs, Scott Beck and Daugherty all spent time running at Jones. And as depleted as the Hornets are right now, there’s no way they could overcome an off-night by their chief gunner.

“Our key guys have to play well for us to win,” understated Mathews.

Salisbury was down only 10 at the half, because it made 13 free throws. But South’s lead mushroomed to 20 in a hurry in the third quarter when Daugherty tossed in a pair of 3s and Girty made three straight tough shots, including two 3-pointers.

The Hornets crept back within 15 in the fourth quarter when Markeice Daugherty converted an old-fashioned 3-point play, but then South’s Daugherty, who had 12 in the fourth quarter and 20 in the second half, took off on another spurt and it was all over.

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NOTES: South reserve Zach Willett got his first varsity points. ... Salisbury won’t have long to stew about a disappointing Tuesday. They’ve got Concord coming in tonight. South heads to A.L. Brown Thursday, as the Wonders kick off their season.

SALISBURY (71) — M.Daugherty 14, Drye 12, Jones 11, Geter 10, Knauf 9, Allison 6, Bost 4, Boyd 3, Edwards 2, Mears.

SOUTHROWAN (88) — D.Daugherty 31, Girty 20, Torrence 13, Diggs 9, Childers 5, Beck 2, Kennedy 2, Mack 2, Willett 2, Patterson 2, Hornbeak, Propst, Biles.

Salisbury 17 20 16 18 — 71 South Rowan 22 25 24 17 — 88