Staff report

SALISBURY — The postseason isn’t far away now, and the Salisbury boys basketball team appears to be ready for another playoff run.

The Hornets won their 20th game on Monday night, wrecking Queen City Prep 84-43. It was decided by halftime with the Hornets leading by a comfortable 45-18.

Only four 2A teams have won 20 games. Reidsville (22-0) looms as the obvious team to beat for the state title. The other two 20-game winners are eastern schools — West Bladen and Northwood.

Salisbury has won 19 in a row and may be the second-best team in 2A West, but is only seventh in the 2A West RPI rankings due to the winning percentage of its opponents. CCC opponents South Davidson and West Davidson are 2-20. Salisbury also has played East Rowan (2-19) twice.

Salisbury has a challenging game coming up on Friday. North Rowan (14-7) has won six in a row and if the Cavaliers can handle Lexington again on Tuesday, they will be playing for a share of the CCC championship when they visit “The Hive.”

Salisbury settled things with Queen City Prep (6-11) in a hurry. Braylon Taylor made it 3-0 with a bomb to open the scoring, while Myles Smith’s first dunk made it 9-2. After a quarter, Smith had 11 points, Taylor had seven, and the Hornets led 25-9.

Smith got nine more in the second quarter, as the Hornets blew it open.

Smith finished with 26 points, boosting his career total to 980. A senior, he played three seasons at Victory Christian Center in Charlotte before coming to Salisbury. He’s scored 527 points this season and leads Rowan County scorers with right at 23 per game.

Smith has scored 20-plus in eight of his last nine games.

Taylor had 14, The Hornets had some good balance after that, with 10 from Tre Davis, a season-high nine from Torian Brown and eight each from Hank Webb and Blake Smith, Myles’ younger brother.

Juke Harris, the Wake Forest freshman who led Salisbury to the regional final last season, returned for a visit to the gym where he broke county scoring records.

Queen City Prep    9    9    11   14   — 43

Salisbury               25  20   25  14    — 84

SHS scoring — M. Smith 26,  Taylor 14, Davis 10, Brown 9, Webb 8, B. Smith 8, Cherry 3, House 3, Dalton 3.