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LANDIS— Tre Hornbeak and his South Rowan teammates couldn’t have gotten off to much worse of a start at the free-throw line.
The Raiders, thanks to Hornbeak, rediscovered their shooting touch from the charity stripe at just the right time.
South Rowan hit five of its final six free-throw attempts in the final 30 seconds and escaped with a 58-55 come-from-behind victory against Salisbury on Wednesday night.
Hornbeak hit only three of his 10 tries from the line in the first half, but he buried all four of his attempts in the last half-minute.
“Like I told them at halftime, we had already missed our share for the game, we’re hitting most of them in the second half,”South coach Jon Davis said.
South Rowan, which hit seven of 18 free-throw attempts in the first half, trailed 55-50 with one minute to play, but Hornbeak wouldn’t allow Salisbury (0-1) to catch a break.
He drilled a 3-pointer with 45 seconds left, then nailed two free throws to tie the game with 27.8 seconds remaining.
Ryan Keener gave South Rowan (1-0) the lead by hitting one of two with 17.7 seconds left, and Hornbeak added two more makes from the line to put Salisbury ahead by three with 5.4 seconds remaining.
Salisbury had a final chance to tie, but Andre Bruce’s 3-point try at the buzzer missed its mark.
“Normally we don’t shoot that poorly from the free-throw line, I think it’s a little bit of opening night jitters,”Davis said. “You can’t really simulate game-type conditions in practice, especially with the guys that we are missing.
“Our guys might have been a little winded, but I’m glad they settled down and started hitting those things in the end when it counted.”
Hornbeak finished with a game-high 28 points, including 13 in the fourth quarter. He hit three of his four field-goal tries in the final stanza and all six of his freebies.
“It just seemed like the ball ended up in my hands,” he said.
South Rowan needed every ounce of Hornbeak’s heroics. Before taking the lead with 17.7 seconds left, the Raiders hadn’t been out front since they held a 23-22 advantage with 1:36 left in the second quarter.
Out of the game’s 32 minutes, South led for only two minutes, 28 seconds.
“That was our game to win,”Salisbury coach Drew Mathews said.“I’m disappointed that we didn’t finish the plays at the very end.”
The Hornets’ ability to finish plays in the beginning allowed them to control the contest.
Salisbury led at the end of the first, second and third quarters but never held an advantage of more than seven points.
The Hornets relied on their two starting post players, Sharmari Spears and Matt Butler, throughout Wednesday’s contest. Spears finished with 21 points and seven rebounds, and Butler had 14 points.
“They’re a nice one-two punch inside,”Mathews said. “They work really well together. They had a good week of practice and they’re going to get better as time goes along.”
Spears missed his first three free throws but connected on his next six. The final two put Salisbury ahead 53-50 with 2:46 left. Bruce added two more free throws 1 minute, 35 seconds later to give Salisbury a five-point lead that seemed destined to stand up.
Mathews said last week that his ideal score would be a 55-50 victory, but unfortunately for the Hornets, enough time still remained for South to make its run.
Spears had a chance to give Salisbury the lead at the line with 10.4 seconds left and the Raiders up by one, but he missed both tries.
The Hornets committed four turnovers and missed all three of their free throws in the final 2 minutes, 13 seconds.
“We were in control until we got to the two minute mark,” Mathews said. “When you get to the two-minute mark, it’s time for your guards to take over and make good decisions with the basketball. We should have gotten to the line and made free throws.”
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Contact Bret Strelow at 704-797-4258 or bstrelow@salisburypost.com
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