TYRO— Drew Mathews has seen a little bit of everything this season, so it’s no wonder he managed to stay so calm Tuesday night.

The Salisbury boys basketball head coach stoically watched his team get called for 34 fouls — including 15 in the third quarter alone.

Instead of flying off the handle when senior star Boo Blount was whistled for a technical foul by an official who wasn’t even looking at the player, Mathews simply turned back to the fans and encouraged them to rein in their anger as well.

And after High Point Central (14-10) ended the Hornets’ season by a 90-65 final in the first round of the 2ACentral Carolina Conference Tournament, Mathews made no excuses.

“My kids have known from the beginning of the season that we’re not depending on officials to make calls,”Mathews said. “I think the fouls did change the pace of the game, but as a player you have to play through that.”

Blount didn’t get a chance to do that. The award for most absurd moment of a ridiculous game clearly was his.

Blount had just hit a pair of 3-pointers in the third quarter to trim Central’s big lead to 63-45. The next time down the court, he was whistled for an offensive foul out at the 3-point line. As the official who made the call turned to the scorer’s table, Blount bounced the ball through his legs — and right to the ref standing behind him.

The second official caught the ball with ease and began walking to the sideline to put the ball in play. The first official, with his back turned the whole time, whistled Blount for a technical — the fifth and final foul of his Hornet hoops career.

“I told him just to remain calm,”Mathews said. “Boo goes to the next sport and I didn’t want him to get ejected from this sport and then sit out in baseball. Boo’s a great kid and a good athlete. He deserves better than that.”

Salisbury (4-18)held an 18-12 edge on first-half fouls. For the game, Central went 29-for-39 from the line, while Salisbury was 15-for-24.

“I’ve never been involved in a game where we were in the one-and-one three minutes gone by in the third quarter,”Central head coach Steve Johnson said. “That was a tough game to referee. That’s the way we play. We’re aggressive, they’re aggressive.”

The Bison, after losing a tough game to Lexington last week to fall to third in the league, came out with renewed energy at the defensive end Tuesday night.

Central’s offense clicked in the first quarter behind seven points each from Derrick Bryant and Willie Baker, but the defense did the real work, forcing 11 turnovers and staking the Bison to a 21-11 lead.

The Hornets went more than three minutes without a field goal in the second quarter as Central’s lead stretched as high as 20 points before the 50-33 halftime score.

The third quarter’s parade to the foul line took its toll. Jack Campbell fouled out with 4:44 to play in the period. Blount’s ordeal followed at the 3:15 mark, and fellow senior Randall Jones got his fifth with 2:34 to go.

From that point, Central kept the lead hovering around 30 points as the future of Hornet basketball took over.

Chris Geter, the lone junior on the squad, scored nine points in the opening minutes of the fourth quarter and finished with 13 points.

Freshman Julian Greene tied with Bryant for a game-high 19 points, with all of his scoring coming in the final three quarters.

“Chris and Julian did some nice things in the second half, Bryan Roten did some good things in the second half,”Mathews said. “I’m pleased with them.”

Greene had no idea when the season started that he’d have a chance to play in the conference tournament, let alone score 19 points.

“It was amazing. I never expected it,”he said.

He and his young teammates all saw far more time than expected in a season that saw Mathews lose 11 players for various reasons from the start of the year through Tuesday.

“I think Coach Mathews has done a heckuva job this year,”Johnson said. “He should be commended for what he’s done this year. He’s one of my votes for coach of the year.”

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NOTES: Blount finished with 13 points, while Jones had 10. … Central finished better than 50 percent from the field, going 30-for-59. … Greene added 10 rebounds for the Hornets.

SALISBURY(65) — Geter 13, Jones 10, Greene 19, Blount 13, Jones 2, Roten 4, Conners 2, Campbell 2, Davis.

HIGHPOINTCENTRAL(90) — Keever 3, Smith 3, Baker 18, White 6, Crump, Bryant 19, Warlick 12, Wagner 3, Thomas 8, Knox, Watson 12, Greeson 6.

Salisbury 11 22 12 20 — 65

HPCentral 21 29 25 15 — 90