By David Shaw
dshaw@salisburypost.com
Head coach Jason Causby has a message for everyone who watched Salisbury’s hard-fought victory in its CCC opener Tuesday night:
Get used to it.
Brandon Abel scored eight of his team-best 17 points in the fourth quarter as the Hornets rallied for a 64-55 nod over visiting Ledford.
“I wish they would all be 20- or 30-point wins,” Causby said. “But that’s not the reality of it. I’d be fooling myself if I said that. In our conference it’s gonna be a lot more of this.”
Able, a 6-foot-5 senior, was a big reason the Hornets 6-1, 1-0) outmuscled Ledford (1-5, 0-1). It trailed by as many as 15 points before grabbing a short-lived 38-37 lead in the third period.”When I got the ball in the middle, they would collapse on me,” Abel said. “After that I started dishing it out.”
Abel fed passes to guards Darien Rankin and Romar Morris for fourth-quarter baskets.
Abel added a crowd-pleasing jam in the third quarter and a driving, three-point play with 5:47 remaining.
“Brandon is a terrific young man and a very good player,” Causby said.
“It’s just a matter of time ó if we keep feeding him the ball in position ó before he’s gonna make shots, get rebounds and make free throws. That’s what we counted on down the stretch, and he came through.”
Teammate Jahaan Hailey provided the early sparks, hitting three 3-pointers in the first half. The Hornets threatened to run away and hide after Alex Weant’s layup gave them an 18-8 lead late in the opening quarter.
“We were playing with energy and intensity,” senior guard Thaddeus Williams said. “Especially on defense.”
The feel-good atmosphere that filled the gym early soon disappeared.
Ledford scored eight straight points to close within 18-16 and spent the rest of the first half hanging around. The Panthers drew within 35-31 at the break when Steven Fuquay (game-high 21 points) drilled a 3-pointer from the right corner as the half ticked to a close.
“We knew they were riled up and weren’t going away,” Rankin said. “We had to mature, pick up our game and keep pushing.”
Things got worse before they improved.
When Fuquay ó a 6-foot junior guard who averages 9.4 points per game ó knocked down another 3-pointer midway through the third quarter, the guests had inched ahead.
“Falling behind, that just made us want to score even faster,” Causby said. “We wanted to wipe that momentum right out.”
Rankin took care of that with a pair of last-minute baskets that gave Salisbury a 48-42 lead heading into the fourth period. And that’s when Abel took over, driving for a couple of layups and capping his night with four straight free throws.
“This was a battle,” Causby said. “Obviously, we’d like to think we’re 20 points better than anyone we take the floor against every night. Right now we know that’s not gonna happen.
When it ended, Salisbury knew it had been in a fight.
“We just had to make them give up,” Rankin said. “Before we did.”
LEDFORD (55) ó Fuquay 21, Sparrow 17, I.Williams 5, Smith 5, Davis 2, Thompson 2, C.Williams 2, Essick 1.
SALISBURY (64) ó Abel 17, Hailey 14, Rankin 12, Morris 6, Knox 5, Williams 4, Phillips 4, Weant 2, Almeida, Lingard, Wood. Ledford 12 19 11 13 ó 55
Salisbury 18 17 13 16 ó 64