He may even cringe at the memory of why he and West Rowan teammate Scooter Dalton were issued a four-day/two-game suspension for violating an undisclosed school rule.

Certainly, the all-state senior guard with the pot-o-gold future isn’t proud of himself. He repeatedly expressed remorse Thursday night after the Falcons dismissed Sun Valley from the 3A sectionals.

“We know we definitely made a mistake,” Sherrill said without providing details. “But it’s a learning experience. We ain’t gonna do it again. I just want to apologize to everyone — my teammates, the coaching staff, the West Rowan fans. What we did was wrong and we’ll learn from this.”

Dalton, who serves as Sherrill’s rock-steady backcourt partner, also felt a sting on conscience. “It will never happen again,” he promised. “Ever. This was a pretty valuable lesson. We learned a great deal.”

West coach Mike Gurley insists last week’s incident was an aberration for the two popular, heads-on-straight players. Status aside, he found reason to forgive them.

“These are two dynamite kids who had never been in trouble before,” he said. “When it first went down I can honestly tell you I never got mad. I mean, they broke a school rule and they were going to serve their disciplinary action. They’re teen-agers who made a mistake. I know I make mistakes and I’m 33.”

Sherrill spent his sentence reflecting on his values and shooting baskets at Hall’s Gymnasium and the YMCA. He missed the Falcons’ SPC T...ournament-clinching wins over Harding and Northwest Cabarrus, but in his heart he longed to be elsewhere.

“I wanted to be on the court with my teammates,” he said. “Unfortunately I couldn’t. All I could do was listen to the games on TV. But that’s the way it goes.”

Not to be overlooked is the question of why. Why would Sherrill and Dalton, a couple of well-raised, college-bound role models, violate an undisclosed school rule?

“It was pretty dumb,” is all Sherrill would say. “I can’t really discuss it, but it was dumb.”

Gurley, for his part, chooses to focus on the promising road ahead rather than the tainted image in the rearview mirror.

“I told each of them that if this is the worst thing that’s ever gonna happen to you, then you’re gonna have a beautiful life,” he said. “I said ‘Take this incident and learn from it. Serve your punishment, think about what happened and come back with your heads high.’ And that’s exactly what they did when they walked into school on Wednesday.”

Sherrill was back in form last night, when he shot 14-for-25 from the field and quietly scored a game-high 37 points. Quiet because he drained only one three-pointer and showcased only one of his signature fastbreak dunks.

“I really didn’t know how I was gonna play tonight,” he explained. “I was kind of nervous. The whole team was. This was my first playoff game and me and Dalton’s first game back. We knew it was gonna be tough.”

It was, at least until Sherrill poured in 16 fourth-quarter points to break open a close match.

“Being a senior and team leader, I didn’t want it to end here,” said Sherrill. “It was a close game and I felt a responsibility on my back. We all had to focus on what’s important.”

And that, more than anything, may signal a return to normalcy at West Rowan.