Salisbury may forgo season-ending surgery
By Brandon Masuoka
Advertiser Staff Writer
Brigham Young-Hawai'i all-conference basketball player Scott Salisbury said he may not need surgery for his fractured larynx as earlier anticipated, and he could be available for a late postseason run.
Salisbury suffered the injury when he was accidentally elbowed in the throat early in a game against Hawai'i Pacific at the Blaisdell Arena on Feb. 12.
Despite the injury, the 6-foot-8 senior center finished the game won by BYUH, 70-61, in overtime, and scored 16 points, including five in overtime. Doctors told Salisbury his injury could be life-threatening if he continued to play and his larynx collapsed and blocked the airway.
"Surgery is kind of out of the picture right now," said Salisbury. "It's soft cartilage, so it will heal. But until it's hardened and healed, there's still that risk of closing off my airway. So surgery isn't that important right now as long as it's healing. It's not putting me at risk right now because I can breathe. If I had surgery, I would be out six weeks and that would be the end of everything."
If his recovery goes well, Salisbury said he could rejoin the team a few days before the NCAA Division II Elite Eight on March 26-29 in Lakeland, Fla., if the 19th-ranked Seasiders advance.
BYUH is in first place in the six-team Pacific West Conference with four games remaining. The PacWest champion receives an automatic berth to the NCAA II West Region Tournament, March 14-17.
Salisbury had played in every game since his freshman year at BYUH, a span of 98 consecutive games, good for second on the school's record list. He averaged 15.9 points and 10.5 rebounds per game this season.
MORE BASKETBALL
• Twice is nice: Hawai'i-Hilo's Ryan Abrahams earned his second PacWest Player of the Week award this season after scoring 45 points in two games against 19th-ranked BYUH last week to help the second-place Vulcans stay alive for a postseason berth.
Abrahams, a 6-foot-3 junior guard from Los Angeles, Calif., scored 24 points in a 83-78 loss Friday and 21 points in a 71-61 victory Saturday.
Abrahams is fifth in the conference in scoring at 16.6 points per game.
SOFTBALL
• Get ready for the Vulcans: The Hawai'i-Hilo softball team (2-0 overall, 2-0 PacWest), picked to second in the PacWest in a preseason coaches' poll, will meet Chaminade (2-8, 0-4) tomorrow at Palolo Field at 4 p.m., BYUH (9-4, 6-0) Saturday in La'ie at noon, and Division I UH-Manoa (9-7) in an exhibition Sunday at 11 a.m. at Rainbow Wahine Softball Stadium.
The Vulcans are coming off a 38-19 season and return two first team all-conference players in senior pitcher Kristine Kahoalii (currently 1-0, 0.00 ERA) and senior outfielder Leinani Hashida (.600 batting average). They also have second team all-conference infielders Diana Kim (.286) and Nancy Vega (.250).
"Pitching and defense is solid right now," UHH coach Callen Perreira said. "Normally the thing that takes the longest to show up is the batting, which we are getting better every day."
