Dylan Belletiere took an awkward fall as the first half whistle sounded. Salisbury’s senior guard had rolled his ankle on the Falcons’ last-second possession.

After coming out to start the second half, the injury forced Belletiere to the sideline to get that ankle taped. When he returned to the court, he played a pivotal role in helping Salisbury avoid a scare from Blue Mountain early in the fourth quarter.

Blue Mountain, which trailed 37-29 late in the third quarter, scored the next nine points to take its first lead of the game at 38-17 with 6:30 left in regulation. But Belletiere quickly hit two free throws on Salisbury’s (1-0) next trip down the court, followed by a layup in transition that put the Falcons ahead for good in their 58-48 victory over the Eagles in Friday’s non-league contest.

“I always like getting my teammates involved,” said Belletiere, who scored eight points in the final quarter and hit all six of his free throws. “But when it comes down to the end of the game, I really put it on myself to close out the game. My teammates were finding me. Thankfully I was hitting my free throws.”

It didn’t take long for Weaver and the Falcons to see Belletiere was still hobbled by that injury.

“We went to that high set, and he fell driving to the basket,” Weaver said. “He didn’t get it taped at halftime, but he then got it taped and I think it made a difference.

“He’s just a competitor who battles and he wanted the ball in that spot. He stepped up and made his shots, and he made good decisions with the basketball.”

Despite Belletiere’s brief absence and nagging injury, the Falcons managed to execute well offensively down the stretch. And a big part of that success was junior guard Blake Jones, who scored six of his game-high 16 points in that final quarter.

It may not have been what Weaver or the rest of the Salisbury coaching staff expected, but he credited Jones’ effort when his number was called early on.

“That’s what we said in the locker room,” Weaver said. “We said you never know who is going to step up. Obviously Blake [Jones] came off the bench. We had some foul trouble early on, and then Dylan [Belletiere] hurt his ankle at some point. We needed somebody to step up, and I thought he played really well.”

Jones had just as big of a role down the stretch, but he was quick to credit Belletiere’s leadership and execution.

“As a senior, he [Belletiere] took over and helped us get the lead right back,” Jones said. “He’s big at helping us when we are down and stuff like that.”

Jones, who was the first guard off the bench for Weaver, played a much bigger role than the amount of court time he saw last year. Though it’s just one game, he seems to be thriving with the increased court time.

“The summer definitely gets us ready,” Jones said. “I wasn’t used to these kind of minutes last year, so it was good.”

But winning likely feels even better, especially against a solid Blue Mountain team.

“It’s a great start to the beginning of the season,” Jones said. “It gives us a lot of confidence going forward. It’s always good start 1-0.”

“I said that team is going to have 15 or 16 wins,” Weaver added. “It was a good win for us.”

Weaver admitted his team’s offense still has a ways to go, and that’s to be expected somewhat playing in a season opener with a new addition in guard Jack Reichenbach that has been with the team just a few weeks. The defense, however, was impressive for much of the 32 minutes on its home floor on Friday night.

Salisbury allowed just six Eagle field goal attempts in the first quarter, resulting in a 16-7 lead for the Falcons. Blue Mountain made seven of its 18 shots in the second quarter, including 11 points from Christian Puzzi, that brought the Eagles to within 22-20.

But every time the Falcons needed a boost, it came on the defensive end of the court, particularly over that fourth-quarter stretch when Blue Mountain shot 6-of-18.

“We focused on our defense because our offense was a work in progress tonight to say the least,” Weaver said “We got a couple of big rebounds, I think Tev might have had a block at that point, and we got out to run a little bit.”

Ryan Slutsky scored 10 points and grabbed eight rebounds for the Falcons and Tevon Weber added eight points, 12 rebounds and three blocks. Puzzi led the Eagles with 13.