Jeff Linville | The News

North Surry’s Grayson Vernon draws a foul from Mount Airy’s Caleb Horton. Vernon hit all 11 foul shots in the fourth quarter to carry the Hounds.

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North Surry was cool at the foul line to down Mount Airy 63-54 Tuesday night.

The Greyhounds held an eight-point lead at the start of the fourth quarter.

The Granite Bears used pressure defense to get some turnovers and cut the lead to four.

However, the Hounds were nearly perfect at the stripe, going 16-17 by seniors Grayson Vernon and Klay Newsome.

Vernon, a deadly outside shooter, was dogged on the perimeter by smaller, quicker guards. So, the small forward began attacking the basket at every opportunity and wound up shooting 21-24 at the line.

He was just 2-4 in the first quarter, then hit 19-20 the rest of the way, including all 11 in the fourth quarter.

Newsome, who buried a three at the start of the game, hit 5-6 in the fourth.

In the first quarter, the Bears called a timeout just 1:25 into the game as Newsome and Jacob Snow hit threes and Vernon converted a drive.

The Bears battled back to tie the game at 11-all by the end of the period.

The Bears went up 15-14 in the second and had a chance to add to that, but missed the front end of two one-and-ones.

Vernon scored a three-point play, and reserve Austin France buried a three from the corner as the Hounds took a 26-19 lead at the break.

The Bears played very evenly with the Hounds in the second half, but were never able to tie the game.

Bear Coach Levi Goins said his backcourt of Austin Taylor, Caleb Horton, Khaleel Dailey and Darius Gwyn have great quickness and were able to get some good looks. Unfortunately, the Bears didn’t finish a lot of plays and shot a low percentage from the field overall, he said.

Horton finished with a team-high 13 points. Taylor had 12 and Dailey 10.

North Surry travels to Starmount today, then hosts West Stokes on Friday. The Bears are off until traveling to West Stokes next Tuesday.