By Jordan Honeycutt
sports@salisburypost.com
SALISBURY — What kind of defense is there to handle a 6-foot-7 phenom? A Stout one.
As in Myquon Stout.
Carson’s bruiser, better known for his football and track and field prowess, flustered Salisbury big man Tony Nunn all day in the Cougars 63-52 victory.
Nunn did score 19 points and gather 20 boards but he never seemed to get into his rhythm and the team was missing guards Keion Adams and Buster Hillie due to undisclosed reasons.
“I just listened to the coaches and tried my best to use my strength and push him off the blocks,” Stout said. “We wanted him to have to take 8-footers instead of 3-footers and other than what he got on offensive boards, we did that pretty well.”
Nunn easily established position several times against the Cougars, however, when Stout didn’t push him away from the rim, his own players denied him the ball.
“We are still struggling a lot at getting the ball inside,” Nunn said. “I just have got to keep posting up hard and working hard to get the ball, but I promise you that it will change and I will not let my teammates down.”
Credit the hard-nosed defense of the Cougars, though. They were able to force Salisbury into some undesired shot attempts which led to the Hornets shooting an anemic 31 percent from the floor.
“I am very proud of the guys who played,” Salisbury coach Jason Causby said. “I think I am just more disappointed than I am frustrated but we will get better.
“Tony has got to never let his motor stop running and work extremely hard to gain position on every possession and yes, our guys have to do a better job feeding him the ball.”
As for Stout, not only did he provide the muscle on defense, he dropped in 11 points.
For the second straight game, the Cougars had four players in double figures.
Tre Williams paced the attack with 17, while Colton Laws added 12 and Dontae Gilbert matched Stout with 11.
“Our guys really battled today and I am happy again for the second straight day that we shot great from the free throw line,” Carson coach Brian Perry said. “Myquon did a great job and that was my assistants and my game plan, to use his muscle and it worked out.”
Salisbury attempted to rally late in the fourth quarter, but Carson executed a conservative “hold the ball” offense down the stretch that forced the Hornets to commit fouls.
Though fouling was Salisbury’s only option at that point, it wasn’t a very good one.
The Cougars shot an astounding 45 freebies, making 31 of them, in contrast to Salisbury’s 8-for-13 from the stripe.
Carson finishes the Moir with fifth place, but was able to go 2-1 for the weekend.
“Obviously, we would have rather been 3-0 but I hope the guys build off how well we played these last two games and keep the momentum up in our next two games in the conference,” Perry said.
CARSON (63) — Williams 17, Laws 12, Gilbert 11, Stout 11, Abbitt 6, Love 3, Raper 3, Martin.
SALISBURY (52) — Nunn 19, Duncan 10, Finger 6, T. Petty 5, McCain 4, Woods 4, J.M. Petty 2, Robertson 2.
Carson 19 18 13 13 — 63
Salisbury 11 16 09 16 — 52