There was no Scooter Sherrill and no Scooter Dalton, suspended for breaking school policy. Could the other players make up for Sherrill’s 25 points per game? Could they overcome a game without Dalton’s defensive presence and offensive playmaking? Could they stop Northwest Cabarrus’ unbelievable outside shooting?

Does this answer those questions?

West Rowan 84, Northwest Cabarrus 57.

That’s right. West Rowan 84, Northwest Cabarrus 57.

In arguably the gutsiest, most emotional win in school history, a group of unheralded Falcons played like their name was Scooter. They took a close game at halftime and smashed, crashed and dashed any hope Northwest had of duplicating last year’s tournament title victory over West.

It was the second straight night West (25-1) had won without the Scooters. And it left coach Mike Gurley one emotional man — like he isn’t anyway, huh?

“The emotion is not like crying or tears,” he said in the bowels of A.L. Brown’s Bullock Gymnasium. “It’s more like being a proud parent. I always knew these kids could play.”

The win was a tribute to Gurley, who coached his rear end off. When he wasn’t urging on his team at the top of his lungs, he was arguing with officials, bantering with Northwest coach Greg McKenzie and once, even got down on his knees to towel off a wet spot on the floor.

That brought a large ovation from his overflow crowd but it was just one of many ovations West received — and deserved — on this night.

“He gets into it,” McKenzie said of his counterpart. “I mean, I get into it, but he really gets into it. He cracks me up.”

Gurley’s biggest concern was offensive production from people who had to step into the lineup. The least of his concerns was defense, a West specialty.

And that meant shutting down Trojans’ leading man Matt Hubbard, a 20-point scorer. He finished with 13 points but it was a very uneventful 13, thanks to the in-your-face defense of 6-3 Terris Sifford.

“Hubbard didn’t get many looks, did he?” Gurley said with a big grin. “That’s no disrespect to Hubbard because he’s a good ballplayer, no ifs ands or buts about that. But Terris Sifford can absolutely defend.”

Hubbard had 10 of his points by halftime when the Trojans bulled back from a quick 10-0 deficit to tie the game. He hit one three but by that time, midway through the fourth quarter, it brought the Trojans only to within 71-50.

“My main goal was to stop Hubbard,” Sifford said matter-of-factly.

“Terris Sifford did a good job and we didn’t do enough to get Matt involved,” admitted McKenzie. “Matt didn’t force anything until late and by then, it didn’t matter.”

Offensively, Gurley wanted to attack with his new lineup. Northwest was picking up almost fullcourt and challenging after every rebound.

“When they do that, they’ve got to have more people up there than down here,” Gurley said. “We’ve got good players. I told them to take it to the rim.”

Donte Minter, West’s 6-7 sophomore, took control early, scoring six of the first 10 points. He would go onto record 22 points, 12 rebounds and four blocked shots but it was his early contribution that gave West the momentum.

“Donte put the team on his shoulders and said, ‘Look, guys, get me the ball and I’ll get you started.’” Gurley explained. ‘You figure out what you need to do to be successful. I’ll carry you until then.’”

When Northwest scored the last four points of the half, the Trojans were within 34-33. But West then put it away in the third quarter, outscoring the Trojans 17-4 to take a 51-37 lead.

The Falcons led just 37-35 when it went on a 14-2 run. Leading 43-35, Horatio Everhart nailed a three-pointer and then fed Minter, who hit a pretty, spinning bank shot. Tim Mauldin then pulled up with 10 seconds left in the period and swished a three.

Everhart hit a three to open the fourth and the rout was on. Northwest pulled to within 59-45 when Frankie Williams took over.

Until then, he had just four points. He would finish with a 14-point quarter. He used fadeaway jumpers over the smallish Trojans. He went in for aggressive layups.

And then, there was the windmill dunk.

West was up 73-52 when Williams found himself with the ball near the foul line. He made a ball fake and went in for the slam.

“That was an emotional dunk for me,” Williams smiled later. “My brother (freshman Phillip) had dunked and people were asking me, ‘Why did you let your brother dunk before you?’ So I’m glad I did it in the championship game.”

As West pulled away, the game got uglier. There were several scraps and the officials even had to bring the teams and coaches together.

“It got dirty, but I think our kids, amidst all the dirty play, kept their head and focused on the game.”

Just for good measure, Frankie’s other brother, Jason, got in in the final seconds and scored the last points of the night for West.

“If they had given out an MVP trophy,” said a pumped-up Gurley, “ they’d have to give out three, maybe four. I’m really proud of these guys.”

There’s no question about it.