By Mike London

mike.london@salisburypost.com

SALISBURY — The release of the prep basketball playoff pairings always means good news and bad news.

For Salisbury’s 19th-seeded boys, the pairings brought really good news — a three-mile, first-round trip to 14th-seeded North Rowan on Tuesday.

It’s a rivalry matchup and the same first-round playoff matchup the teams had last season. Unlike 2014 when North Rowan was loaded with seniors and Salisbury was loaded with sophomores,  this time, the Hornets have a legitimate chance to win.

Salisbury (15-9) has lost 61-57 and 67-60 to the Cavaliers (16-6) in recent weeks, and presumably the Cavaliers will be without Josh Handy for the third meeting. Handy, the Cavs’ longest player and a 6-foot-4 forward who provided 14 points per game, suffered a wrist injury in Friday’s CCC tiebreaker loss at Lexington.

While it will give away a lot of size to the tall Hornets, North Rowan also is comfortable with the matchup.

North Rowan is 8-0 against Salisbury the last three seasons, and no one on Salisbury’s current roster has ever beaten North Rowan. The last time Salisbury managed to beat North Rowan was in 2012, when players such as Tony Nunn, Tion McCain and D.J. Griffin did the damage.

Juniors Deshawn Troutman, D.J. Alexander and Wes Fazia average double figures for Salisbury. Junior Jalen Sanders has been the county’s standout player and will lead the Cavaliers. With Handy hurt, North Rowan will count on its third and fourth scoring options (Joseph Scott and Henderson Lentz) to provide more points.

Also in 2A, CCC tournament champ Lexington (20-4) is the No. 4 seed and hosts No. 29 Ashe County. Lexington went 4-1 against North Rowan and Salisbury and has a chance to make a serious run.

3A

Carson (10-14) staggers into the playoffs with a four-game losing streak, but the Cougars are the final team in the 3A West bracket. As the No. 32 seed, they’ll travel to No. 1 Ledford for Tuesday’s first round. It’s not a long trip to rural Davidson County, and considering the Cougars stunned a No. 1 on the road (Asheville Erwin) in the second round of the playoffs last season, they shouldn’t be counted out.

Seniors Marquez McCain and Jonathan Rucker are double-figure scorers for Carson.

West Rowan (13-11) is seeded 22nd and goes to No. 11 Weddington.

West Rowan coach Mike Gurley is in his 18th season at West Rowan and will be guiding the Falcons into the playoffs for the 17th time. The only season the Falcons missed the playoff party during Gurley’s tenure was 2004.

Gurley’s record in playoff games is 34-14. That includes a 69-66 overtime victory against Weddington in 2012. That exciting victory was the last time West Rowan won in the playoffs.

Seniors Celexus Long and Greg Joseph average double figures for the Falcons, along with freshman Caleb Mauldin.

Long has 975 career points. Long’s chances to become the program’s 14th 1,000-point scorer looked great, but then weather wiped out the SPC tournament.

SPC co-champ Hickory Ridge is seeded 12th and hosts No. 21 McMichael. SPC co-champ Cox Mill, depleted by suspensions, is seeded No. 6 and hosts No. 27 A.C. Reynolds. No. 15 Concord, the SPC’s third-place team, hosts No. 18 North Iredell.