From staff reports

TYRO — Salisbury’s boys weren’t able to blow away a physically overmatched West Davidson team on Tuesday, but a 61-41 victory kept the Hornets on top in the Central Carolina Conference.

Juke Harris didn’t have a good shooting night — zero made 3-pointers — but still managed to score 20 on dunks, layups and free throws. Deuce Walker scored 12, while Mike Geter had 11.

Hank Webb made back-to-back 3-pointers in the middle of the third quarter to finally give the Hornets (13-5, 7-1) some separation from the pesky Green Dragons (3-16, 1-6). Webb’s shots turned a 39-29 game into 45-29.

Harris came into the game averaging 30 and had scored 33 in the first meeting with West Davidson, which was an 83-37 laugher for the Hornets.

Harris wasn’t much of a factor in the first quarter of the rematch on West Davidson’s Crim Court. The Hornets used Walker’s offensive rebounding to take a slim lead, but West Davidson shooter Colson Priddy kept the score close with some difficult, long-range efforts.

Harris didn’t score for the first 7 minutes, 50 seconds of the contest, but he had a steal and dunk with 10 seconds to go in the quarter. That got him energized.

Harris turned in an aggressive second quarter, getting long-armed steals and blocks and scoring 12 points. His defense propelled the Hornets to a 32-20 halftime lead.

West Davidson stayed in it for the first three minutes of the second half, but Webb’s back-to-back bombs ended any hope the home team had for pulling off a miracle.

Buckets by Jonathan Ross and Geter closed the third quarter, as the Hornets took a 49-32 lead.

Harris only scored one point in the fourth quarter, but Geter and Walker had two buckets each to finish off the Green Dragons.

Ross and Macari House had 3-pointers in the game, but it wasn’t a memorable shooting night for the Hornets, who did almost all of their damage at the rim.

Salisbury             15    17   17  12     — 61

W. Davidson     10     10   12     9   — 41

Salisbury scoring — Harris 20, Walker 12, Geter 11, Webb 8, Ross 5, House 3, Davis 2.

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THOMASVILLE — North Rowan could be a dangerous team in the 1A state playoffs, but first the Cavaliers have to get into those playoffs.

A victory on Tuesday would have helped a lot, but the Cavaliers weren’t able to seriously challenge Thomasville. The Bulldogs easily defended its home court and won the Central Carolina Conference game 75-56.

The Bulldogs are sixth in the 1A West RPI rankings, but North is a bubble team, ranked 31st. The bracket will include 32 teams.

George Maxwell led North with 14 points, while Jayden Polk had 13.

Thomasville’s 24-9 edge in the second quarter provided separation  and a 39-18 lead at halftime.

North (9-10, 4-3) played much better in the second half and was able to trade buckets, but wasn’t able to mount any sort of comeback.

Thomasville (13-4, 6-1) stayed on Salisbury’s heels in the CCC.

North Rowan    9    9    22    16   — 56

Thomasville     15   24  18    18   — 75

North scoring — Maxwell 14, Polk 13, Alexander 9, Carpenter 5, Alford 4, McArthur 4, Charleston 4, Tarver 3.