From staff and wirereports
Salisbury defeated Albemarle 63-12 for its first victory.

The Hornets got pins from Raylon Coleman (145 pounds), Willie Clark (160), Holden Hughley (170). Ji Stiller (220) and Parker McKeithan (heavyweight).

See Scoreboard.
Prep commitments

Davie cross country standout Anna McBride has committed to Furman.

• Salisbury soccer star Spencer Dixon will continue his career at Hampden-Sydney. A story is upcoming.

Prep boys basketball
A.L. Brown lost 57-49 to Mallard Creek on Tuesday despite 21 points by Tydus Parks.

• East Rowan’s boys lost 60-27 to Cox Mill on Tuesday.

Prep girls basketball
In A.L. Brown’s 56-30 loss to Mallard Creek on Tuesday, Taleitha Alexander and Aitana Grant scored eight points each for the Wonders (1-4), and Kyla Downs had six.

• In Davie’s 52-42 win against the Australian travel team, Haleigh Hatfield scored 22 points and Amy Steller had 14. Steller, a senior who signed with Pfeiffer, surpassed 1,000 points in Davie’s game on Friday against Alexander Central.

Jayvee girls basketball
East Rowan’s girls won 32-22 against Cox Mill on Tuesday.

Brittany Small had nine points and 11 rebounds for the Mustangs. Shenell Pharr scored six points.

Prep swimming
South Rowan’s swim teams won against West Rowan and Carson on Tuesday.

South’s boys won nine of 11 events and scored 148 points. Carson had 86, while West scored 57.

South’s Bonner Buchanan, Jonnie Lefebvre, Luke Rary and Dillon Parker won the 200 medley relay. Buchanan, Tyler Fyller, Rary and Parker won the 200 freestyle relay. Jeremiah Bradshaw, Bradley Bettis, Bryan Bettis and Buchanan won the 400 free relay.

Bradshaw and Bradley Bettis went 1-2 in the 200 and 500 freestyle races. Rary won a close race in the 200 IM and dominated the 100 butterfly. Buchanan won the 50 free, with Parker second. Nathan Shorter won the 100 breaststroke.

For Carson, Greg Tonnesen won the 100 freestyle. John Patella won the 100 backstroke and was second in the 200 IM. Henry Brown was second in the 100 breaststroke.

Tonnesen, Brown, Patella and Heath Mitchem had two second places in relays.

West’s Ben Wilson was second in the 100 free, and Josh Buinicky was second in the 100 backstroke.

Wilson, Buinicky, Jacob Flemming and Thomas Webb placed second in the 400 free relay.

• South’s girls won every event to score 160 points to Carson’s 85 and West’s 35.

Nicole Mauldin won the 200 IM and 100 butterfly. Leslie Franks won the 200 freestyle relay.

South’s Taylor Kluttz and Faith Casswell finished 1-2 in the 200 freestyle. Franks and Madyson Campbell finished 1-2 in the 50 free. Kluttz and Sydney Kelly were 1-2 in the 100 free. Casey Pruitt and Kylie Labbe were 1-2 in the 500 free. Casswell and Maren Lewallen were 1-2 in the 100 backstroke.

Mauldin, Casswell, Kluttz and Franks won the 400 freestyle relay. Casswell, Kelly, Pruitt and Campbell won the 200 medley relay. Mauldin, Kelly, Kluttz and Franks won the 200 free relay.

For Carson, Erin Marohn was second in the 200 IM and 100 butterfly. Sarah Boyd was second in the 100 breaststroke. Morgan Hester, Boyd, Kinsley Bean and Katlyn Smith placed second in the 200 medley relay. Bean, Marohn, Ashlee Wagoner and Brooke Myall placed second in the 200 free relay.

West’s top performance was by Samantha Rayl, who was third in the 50 free.

Salis. Academy hoops
In a loss to Statesville Christian, Sam Combs scored 12 points for the Salisbury Academy jayvee boys, Mitch Jeter had 10, and Hank Robins scored seven. Overcash grabbed 12 rebunds. Jeter made eight steals. Ryan Lutz, Archie Dees and Zach Johnson played well.

North Hills hoops
The North Hills varsity boys defeated Covenent Classical 86-50.

Chris Taylor led the Eagles with 18 points. Matt Ward scored 16, and Ian Bradshaw had 14.

Ike Ingle scored 26 for Covenant.

• The North Hills varsity girls lost 50-39 to Community School of Davidson.

Natalie Whicker led the Eagles with 17 points and nine reounds. Abby Lane had 14 points and seven rebounds.

Candace Craig Lyerly, Taylor Foster and Abbey Cody contributed in the scoring column. Mariah Murdock had six rebounds and three steals.

Local golf
Sixty-seven GARS members played at Cresecent.

Low ‘A’ Flight player was Ron Ervin with 66.37.

Low ‘B’ Flight player was Mickey Ousley with a net of 68.23.

Low ‘C’ Flight player with a net of 63.81 as Walter Moore.

Low ‘D’ Flight player with a net of 69.97 was Lloyd Clodfelter.

Men’s college hoops
Louisburg, coached by Mark Vanderslice (West Rowan), is now ranked No. 1 nationally among junior colleges for the first time.

Vanderslice played on the West’s 1997 2A state champions.

• Catawba returns to action on Saturday at Belmont Abbey.

Women’s college hoops
Pfeiffer’s Jodie Lemons was named Conference Carolinas Player of the Week for women’s basketball.

Lemons averaged 21 points in three outings.

• Catawba returns to action on Saturday at Queens.

Hurley YMCA
The J.F. Hurley YMCA is registering boys ages 7-15 for basketball leagues until Jan. 6.

The league is both fun and instructional and is for all skill levels.

Coaches are needed.
Contact Phillip Hilliard at 704-636-0111 for information.

Buckeyes win
COLUMBUS, Ohio — Deshaun Thomas did most of his damage in the first half. By then, he was just about done, and so was Savannah State.

Thomas scored all but one of his 22 points in the first 20 minutes and No. 7 Ohio State showed its firepower inside and out in beating Savannah State 85-45 on Wednesday night.

“The past couple of games some of the first 3s I took weren’t going in,” Thomas said, referring to slow starts in lopsided wins over Northern Kentucky and Long Beach State. “Now my teammates are getting me open and I was ready to shoot. It just feels good out there, getting in that rhythm, getting the open spots and just knocking them down.”

Savannah State coach Horace Broadnax, a mainstay on the great Georgetown teams of the early 1980s, joked that his players lost track of Thomas.

“I guess we didn’t understand the scouting report on Thomas that he could shoot the basketball because we left him open a lot,” he said.

There were plenty of others who contributed.

LaQuinton Ross added 13 points and tied a career high with nine rebounds, Shannon Scott had a career-best 12 points to go with four steals and three assists and Evan Ravenel chipped in with 11. points and nine rebounds for the Buckeyes (7-1).

Ravenel’s revival was particularly encouraging to the Buckeyes. So far this season they have struggled to replace two-time All-American Jared Sullinger, who left after his sophomore season to jump to the Boston Celtics.

Ravenel, Ohio State’s only senior, along with sophomores Amir Williams and Trey McDonald, have played well in fits and spurts. But all had decent games against the Tigers, with Williams adding six points on a perfect shooting night to go with four rebounds and McDonald didn’t score but had two blocked shots and two rebounds.

The 6-foot-8 Ravenel met with the coaches recently and asked what he needed to do to produce more. Then he went out and did it.

“Playing hard and playing with energy is what I need to do,” he said. “It’s not go shoot a thousand shots, it’s not go do a million ballhandling drills — it’s just playing hard. If I play hard, that’s what happens. That’s the type of player I am.”

The game served as another tuneup for the Buckeyes who are three games into an eight-game homestand that stretches all the way through the Big Ten opener against Nebraska on Jan. 2. They played three of their first five games on the road, including their only loss — a 73-68 loss at No. 2 Duke on Nov. 28.

The next big target game for the Buckeyes is a showdown Dec. 22 against No. 9 Kansas, the team that beat Ohio State 64-62 in the national semifinals last spring.

“As crazy as it sounds, we’re still a relatively young basketball team,” coach Thad Matta said. “The thing that we have been harping on these guys the most is we have to get better. Don’t go back to (yesterday). Hopefully these things are in order and we can continue to progress forward. We’ve played with energy and enthusiasm. Our intensity level has been pretty good.”

Arnold Louis led Savannah State (5-5) with 14 points.

The Tigers came in relying on their stingy defense. They were allowing only 53.0 points a game, with their opponents shooting 37.1 percent from the field.

But the Buckeyes, averaging 78 points, dominated at both ends and scored in transition to pile up a big lead. They hit 10 of 19 shots behind the arc while shooting 48 percent from the field for the game.

The Buckeyes made 7 of 10 3-pointers in the opening half to pull away to an 18-point lead. Thomas led the way, hitting 4 of 6 while scoring an almost effortless 21 points — three more than the Tigers accumulated in the half.

At one point, the Buckeyes had a 15-1 advantage on the boards.

Ahead 5-4, Ohio State held Savannah State without a point for more than 5 minutes while running off nine points in a row. Lenzelle Smith Jr. got it started with a 3, Williams came in and flipped in a hook, Thomas hit a short jumper and Williams added two free throws.

On the heels of that spurt, however, the Buckeyes took off again, scoring 13 of the next 17 points. Thomas tossed in a couple of quick-draw 3s with Ravenel scoring two buckets inside.

Down 42-18 at the break, Savannah State scored seven of the first nine points of the second half but Ohio State started picking up points in transition to stretch the lead, which gradually grew to the final margin.

Scott’s 3 with 12:01 left gave the Buckeyes a 64-31 lead — and also surpassed the most points given up by Savannah State this season. The Tigers gave up 62 points in an 84-62 win over Trinity Baptist. They had limited No. 5 Florida to just 58 points in a 58-40 loss on Nov. 20.

It all came down to the Buckeyes flexing their muscles.

“If we have great pace to our offense things will go well,” Thomas said. “The one thing coach preached before the game was having passion. And we had passion out there.”

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Follow Rusty Miller on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/rustymillerap