Instead of being jumping mad at his team, West head coach Mike Gurley thought about all the mistakes, missed shots and lackadaisical plays in the Falcons’ 68-59 win over Sun Valley. Then, after careful consideration, he took the blame for all of it.

“When Sun Valley plays better than you and probably deserves to win the game, yeah, you do get frustrated,”Gurley said. “I guess Ihave to get them playing to win instead of playing not to lose, and maybe I convinced them of playing that way by telling them Sun Valley was such a good basketball team.”

West will now meet South Point, a 51-44 winner over Trinity, in the sectional finals tonight at 5:30 p.m. The Falcons have made the regionals eight out of the last 10 years.

West (26-1) beat Sun Valley twice in the South Piedmont Conference regular season, but this sectional semifinal game at A.L. Brown High was a struggle. The Falcons looked ragged early with Scooter Sherrill and Scooter Dalton back on the court for the first time in two games following a school suspension.

Six Falcon turnovers in the first quarter, coupled with 5-for-14 shooting from the field, left the Spartans up 14-12 after one quarter.

“They came out fighting,”Dalton said. “They wouldn’t lay down for us. We just had to keep fighting with them.”

When the horn sounded to open the second quarter, Sherrill served notice that West would not lose. He scored 12 of his game-high 37 points in the second quarter to give theFalcons a 28-23 edge at the half.

Sherrill picked off several Sun Valley passes and converted layups at the other end. He also scored on a variety of pullups, spinners and jumpers.

“If he wants to carry us to the promised land, he’s got to be our overall leader offensively and defensively,”Gurley said. “He’s been around for four years and he never ceases to amaze me.”

Also amazing to Gurley was the way Sun Valley answered everything Sherrill did. The Spartans ran off six straight points at the end of the third quarter and trailed 46-45 after Falcon Donte Minter put back a Sherrill miss at the buzzer.

Spartan Richard Barrett couldn’t miss, hitting 15 of his team-high 23 points from the 3-point arc. His final long-range bomb of the night pulled Sun Valley within 54-52 with 5:02 remaining.

But just as Sherrill had owned the second quarter, he took over the fourth. He stole Sun Valley’s next possession and scored a layup, then put back a missed shot for a six-point cushion.

“In the fourth quarter we had a chance to go up,”Sun Valley head coach Quinton Toxey said. “We get a turnover, they get a layup, we foul — they’re up by five. That was a big-time point.”

Sherrill limped to the bench with 3:29 to go, suffering from a leg cramp. He returned in time to end an 8-0 run that iced the win, taking it easy on a fast-break layup.

Tonight, against South Point, Gurley hopes his team doesn’t take it quite so easy.

“That first game is always hard,”Gurley said. “In a way it was good. We got it behind us and we’re going on to the next opponent.”

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Gurley spent much of the night shouting for his team to go inside to Minter. The 6-foot-7 sophomore scored nine points in the third quarter, when West made a concerted effort to get him the ball, but he had just three points in the other three quarters. … Gurley praised the defensive play of Jonathan Diggs, who didn’t score off the bench but shadowed Barrett late in the game. … Dalton tallied two points in his return. South Point, the No. 3 seed from the Southwestern Conference, upset Tri-County No. 1 Trinity in the other sectional semifinal.

SUNVALLEY (59) — Barrett 23, Orbison 8, Henderson, McClain, Alexander 6, Winchester 3, Knick 14, Hammond 2, Baldridge 3.

WEST ROWAN (68) — White, P. Williams 2, Mauldin 2, Sifford 7, Sherrill 37, Everhart, Dalton 2, Mattox, F. Williams 6, Minter 12, Diggs.

Sun Valley 14 9 22 14 — 59