Staff report

LEXINGTON — The third time wasn’t the charm for North Rowan’s boys basketball team against Salisbury.

And neither was the fourth.

Salisbury won 80-69 on Tuesday in the neutral Lexington gym and is 4-0 against North this season in four different venues, including Goodman Gym, site of the Christmas Tournament.

The second-seeded Cavaliers (16-10) made the top-seeded Hornets sweat profusely in this latest agonizing loss — it was much tighter and tougher than the final score sounds — but the bottom line was another setback to their biggest rival.

Salisbury (23-3) won its 22nd straight game and its fourth straight Central Carolina Conference Tournament championship while giving Albert Perkins his 100th career win as a high school head coach. This is Perkins’ second season at Salisbury. He’s also coached at Woodlawn and Christ the King.

North Rowan also had a milestone to celebrate. Senior Emari Russell, who is playing his first season for North, pushed his career scoring total to 1,005 points. His previous points came at two Cabarrus schools, mostly in two seasons at Central Cabarrus, a program he helped win two 3A state titles.

North came to play from the outset in Meeting No. 4, and with Dyzarious Carpenter skying and making shots from all angles and lefty JP Polk crashing the boards with purpose, the Cavaliers traded punches with the Hornets.

A spree by Carpenter and Carter Williams late in the first half put North Rowan ahead 37-33. Salisbury tied it right before halftime when Hank Webb scored and Braylon Taylor was the victor in a furious battle on the boards.

Webb opened the second half with a 3-pointer to trigger a 10-0 Salisbury spurt that was capped by a 3-pointer by Bryce Dalton.

When Macari House made back-to-back 3s, the Hornets led 56-42 midway through the third quarter. North appeared to be on the verge of being knocked out, but that didn’t happen. North fought back with its own run and trailed 58-52 heading to the fourth quarter.

A bucket by Carpenter cut Salisbury’s lead to 63-60.

With the pressure on the Hornets, Dalton drained what was probably the biggest shot of the night with four minutes left. His clutch 3-pointer pushed the lead to 66-60.

House banged two more 3s, one from each corner. His last one gave the Hornets a 74-64 lead with two minutes left. Those were dagger shots by House, a defensive demon who averages about 7 points per game and had a previous high of 13. He provided 20 with a huge performance. He got 18 in the second half.

Dalton, who made five of Salisbury’s 12 3-pointers, scored 21. Myles Smith, who did most of his damage in the first half, also had 21. Smith crushed two lob dunks.

The shooting of Dalton and House enabled Salisbury to survive an off night by Braylon Taylor. Taylor averages about 18 but was held to six. He didn’t get any calls on his drives to the rim.

Carpenter scored 22 to lead North. Polk had 18, Russell 11 and Williams 10.

North played without Jeremiah Alford (illness).

“It was a strong effort, just wish we could’ve gotten the win,” North head coach Jason Causby said. “We missed Jeremiah. That hurt our depth, our defense and our rebounding.”

Both teams will be “1” seeds for the in their respective classifications for the state playoffs.

The Hornets can wish them well now. They won’t have to play them a fifth time.

North Rowan   20    17    15    17    — 69

Salisbury           24     13    21    22    — 80

North — D. Carpenter 22, Polk 18, Russell 11, Williams 10, Tarver 8.

Salisbury — M. Smith 21, Dalton 21, House 20, Webb 8, Taylor 6, Davis 2, B. Smith 2.