By Bret Strelow
bstrelow@salisburypost.com
TYRO ó Head coach Jason Causby threw a different look at West Davidson, but the wrinkle was really an old one.The zone press has been a staple for Salisbury’s boys in past years, and they broke it out for the first time this season in a 77-36 road win against the Green Dragons on Friday.
Darien Rankin led the way with 23 points, and Dominique Phillips contributed 11. Point guard Thaddeus Williams had six assists and four steals.The Hornets (19-1, 10-0 CCC) led 19-12 early in the second quarter, and the switch away from a man-to-man press enabled them to dominate the rest of the half.
“They had been doing a real good job against our man pressure,” Causby said. “We’ve worked all year long on our zone press and haven’t used it yet. We talked in practice (Thursday) about going into the second half of the conference schedule and pulling everything out of our bag and getting it ready.”
Salisbury has enjoyed lots of success as a team that applies fullcourt pressure with traps, and Causby worked with his players on improving their extended man-to-man defense this summer.
He liked the results as he watched the Hornets compete at Wake Forest’s team camp in June.
“That gave me a lot of confidence to stick with that and keep building on it,” Causby said. “That’s definitely not something we’re going to go away from, but when you get into a playoff situation, you want to have a full bag of tricks. We’re winning games in the process and getting better.”
The Green Dragons (6-12, 0-10) nearly stunned Salisbury in early January, when it fell behind by 11 points before pulling out a 62-59 win.
West Davidson scored the first five points of the second quarter Friday to draw within seven, but the Hornets were on a 40-8 run as they entered the final period.
“Their press is really good, and most things they do are pretty good,” West Davidson coach Russ Snyder said. “We played them well at their place, and they were ready tonight.”
Rankin, Phillips and Forrest Wilkins combined for 23 points in a 25-5 burst that covered the final 5 minutes, 40 seconds of the first half. Phillips accounted for nine of the last 12 points, including a layup that pushed the Hornets ahead 44-17 going to the break.
Salisbury used its zone press on a few possessions to open the second half but then backed off and employed a 1-3-1 zone in the halfcourt.
“The key was to play defense and work our hardest on the perimeter,” Rankin said. “The second quarter, we really broke loose because we started working together and knowing where the passing lanes were.”
Rankin, who had three steals in the second quarter, finished with his third-best scoring performance of the season. He had 26 points in a loss to South Rowan on opening night and scored 25 in the Hornets’ next game.
He closed the Sam Moir Christmas Classic with a pair of 20-point outings but had averaged 10.6 points in Salisbury’s last seven contests.
“I was glad to see Darien get back into a groove and start looking to drive the ball more instead of settling for jump shots,” Causby said. “We talked about that before the game, and I feel like he can get to the glass about anytime he touches the ball if he’s got space and he squares up.
“People have been playing off of him and have been kind of enticing him to take rushed shots. I thought he did a great job when we were getting defensive stops of going to the glass and attacking it.”
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NOTES: Rankin made four steals. … Brandon Abel had a season-low four points, but John Knox chipped in with 10.
SALISBURY (77) ó Rankin 23, Phillips 11, Knox 10, Wilkins 8, Morris 7, Abel 4, Williams 4, Weant 4, Almeida 2, Lingard 2, Wood 2, Do.
WEST DAVIDSON (36) ó King 10, Jarvis 9, Hamblin 6, Cameron 3, Little 3, Baynard 3, Stephen 2, Moore.
Salisbury 19 25 15 18 ó 77
W. Davidson 7 10 3 16 ó 36