KANNAPOLIS — Take away the Scooters and the Falcons are still rolling along.West Rowan’s boys basketball team, minus suspended
starters Scooter Sherrill and Scooter Dalton, held off Harding 60-54 in the semifinals of
the South Piedmont Conference Tournament here Thursday night.
It was the 14th straight victory for coach Mike
Gurley’s top-seeded team, which will face No. 3 Northwest Cabarrus in a rematch of
the 1999 championship contest at 7:30 p.m. today at A. L. Brown’s Bullock Gymnasium.
Northwest, which upset No. 2 Central Cabarrus
77-74 in overtime last night, upset the Falcons 96-89 for the title last season.
“Scooter Sherrill and Scooter Dalton were
suspended from school (Thursday afternoon) due to the violating of school discipline
policy. They will not play in this tournament,” said Gurley. “However, they will
be eligible to play next week.”
West, 24-1 for the season, is the SPC’s top
seed for the sectional playoffs. The Falcons will draw a first-round bye before playing
their first game, also at A.L. Brown, on Thursday.
Sherrill, averaging 25.2 points, and point guard
Dalton (6.0) are suspended through Thursday.
“The kids involved violated a school policy,
and they were disciplined. It was my decision,” said West principal Henry Kluttz.
“When kids are suspended from any of our (Rowan-Salisbury) schools, they are not
allowed to participate in any school activities. They’ll be back in school
Wednesday.”
Gurley’s starting lineup against
fourth-seeded Harding (16-9) consisted of center Donte Minter, forward Frankie Williams
and Terris Sifford, and guards Horatio Everhart and Tim Mauldin. It wasn’t
Everhart’s first start at point guard, but it was the first for Mauldin.
“Tonight, Mauldin walks into the locker room
before we left West, and he saw his name on the board (starting lineup). After we picked
him up off the floor and then his dad walked in, we picked him up off the floor. We got on
the bus and came to work,” said Gurley.
Tim Mauldin, a 6-2 junior, is the son of Tim
Mauldin, Gurley’s assistant coach.
West, taller than the Rams, got 36 points out of
its front line of 6-7 Minter, 6-6 Frankie Williams and 6-3 Terris Sifford. Minter led the
Falcons’ scoring with 15 points, while Frankie Williams and Sifford added 11 and 10,
respectively. Another tall Falcon, 6-5 freshman Phillip Williams, added six points.
The Williams brothers had a big fourth quarter,
combining for 10 points as the Falcons outscored Harding 16-14.
West led 44-40 starting the final period, then
Phillip Williams scored off an offensive rebound. Keith Himes pulled Harding within 46-45
before Frankie Williams came up with a steal and three-point play. It was 51-46 with 3:13
to go.
After the Rams cut the lead to 51-48 on Keon
Lewis’ layup, it was Phillip Williams’ turn for a short jumper in the lane.
Sifford, on an assist from Everhart, made it 55-48.
Harding got within four on Rico Grier’s
3-pointer with 21 seconds to play, but Frankie Williams’ free throw and four points
by Everhart pushed the lead back to nine with seven seconds left. Grier added a harmless
3-pointer at the buzzer.
Gurley praised all his players, especially his
reserves who played more than usual, two of them in starting roles.
One of those was Phillip Williams, who came up to
the varsity with twin Jason for West’s two games in the Sam Moir Christmas Classic.
“Phillip Williams showed flashes at Christmas
that he could play varsity basketball,” said Gurley. “However, we didn’t
feel like we could give him ample playing time over some of my guys who are juniors who I
was trying to experiment with and give them their experience. So we left him down with
Brian (Perry, West’s jayvee coach). ... I told Brian, ‘I’m bringing him
back.’ I brought him back with three games left (in the regular season). We prepped
Phillip for this moment. We felt like he was ready when he came to us.”
“I knew I didn’t know the plays and all,
but I just wanted to go out there and compete, just play my heart out,” said the
lanky freshman.
He knew, with two starters out, he would probably
get more playing time than usual.
“I knew I was going to play a lot. I
didn’t know I was going to play about half the game,” he said. “I knew if I
played, I was going to have to play good and step up my game a little bit.I don’t
know if I did or not. I guess coach Gurley would know,” he said.
Gurley thought back to late in the first half,
when Harding held a 31-26 lead.
“They were pressing. Frankie looked down the
floor and found Phillip Williams. He made a great pass, and Phillip makes a great catch.
Phillip goes all the way to the hole and scores. Then the last two seconds tick off,”
said the West coach. “We made a great play to get a quick two when it looked like the
half was going to end with us down five.”
West then had its best quarter, outscoring the
Rams 16-9 in the third period for a 44-40 lead.
“We came out from there and started
attacking. I told them Harding did a great job (in the first half) pressing us and causing
some turnovers. Harding was doing a great job on the offensive glass. Harding was also
doing a great job of pushing the ball down the floor and getting some easies,” said
Gurley.
“We came in at halftime and said,
‘That’s our three emphases. When they press us, boys, we’re not only going
to try to break it, we want to go to the rim,’” said Gurley. “They really
didn’t press much after we broke it a couple of times. ‘Secondly, we’ve got
to control the defensive glass.’ I’m surprised Donte only had 15 points, but it
seemed like he had 15 rebounds. Then, thirdly, as far as getting back, I don’t think
they had one of those breakaway wide-open layups in the second half.”
Gurley said, regardless of tonight’s outcome,
next week’s playoffs are the main priority.
“This is just a prepping; this is a way to
get better,” he said. “We got beat last year. We got drubbed. We got run out of
the gym. I mean Northwest kicked us a bunch of times. Maybe we win tomorrow, maybe we
lose. But all I know is, we’re still playing next Thursday. Regardless of what
happens tomorrow, I’ve got to get them focused to play our next opponent after
that.”
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