MOUNT ULLA — Sun Valley was trying to score at the start of its game at West Rowan Friday night. Honest.

It just seemed that every time the Spartans got close to the basket, their path was blocked by Donte Minter.

Making like Bill Russell, the 6-7 sophomore snuffed four first quarter shots, keeping every one in play and triggering fast break after fast break. The result was a quick 12-0 lead and the Falcons cruised to a 74-52 victory.

It sets up yet another showdown for the Falcons, who meet Central Cabarrus (7-0, 12-2 overall) Tuesday night at West for supremacy in the South Piedmont Conference.

“Central Cabarrus is playing very well right now,” warned coach Mike Gurley of the Vikings, whose coach, Scott Brewer, brought his players to the Gurley Dome Friday night to do a little scouting. “It’s going to be a great game.”

West (13-1, 6-0) tuned up for Tuesday night with an impressive victory over Quinton Toxey’s athletic Spartans. And the Falcons accomplished the win with defense and a good effort inside, exactly what Gurley wanted.

“We made an emphasis to improve our post play,” he said. “There’s a lot of good post players in our league and we have to come out focused.”

Minter certainly did. With West leading 2-1, he blocked a shot that led to a Scooter Sherrill layup. On Sun Valley’s next trip, it was an instant replay: a Minter block and a Sherrill score. When his third block led to a Terris Sifford layup, it was 12-0 and Toxey could see the handwriting on the wall.

“West is one of the best 3A teams in the state and they played very, very well,” he said. “Getting down like we did, it was a hard climb back up.”

Minter would finish with seven blocks on the night to go with eight rebounds and 12 points. He also helped keep 6-4 bruiser Ken Hammond, a Division I football recruit with a serious vertical leap, under wraps for most of the night.

“Donte played AAU with Scooter and Kenny so he was really focused,” Gurley said. “It pumped Brandon White up. And it pumped Frankie Williams up.”

Both of those big men had good performances.

Williams, a 6-6 senior, came off the bench to score 12 points and grab five rebounds. He scored in every quarter, mostly on baseline jumpers.

White, a 6-7 senior in his first season, brought the crowd to its feet when he blocked Hammond two straight times. But he also had the crowd buzzing when he made a steal, dribbled all the way down and pulled up for a 10-footer.

“This is the dribblingest team I’ve ever seen,” Gurley laughed, pointing out that White won’t be moving into the point guard spot anytime soon.

The key to the game was finishing what the big men started. And Sherrill, Sifford and Horatio Everhart produced, getting layups or passing to others who put the ball in the basket.

“Horatio’s defense was really good,” Gurley said. “He kept things lively. And T Sifford defends every night.”

And then, there was N.C. State-bound Sherrill, who may have had the quietest 24-point night of his career. There were no highlight-reel dunks, just solid play.

“We’ve come to the realization that whether we do it right or do it wrong, just do it hard,” Gurley said. “And we’ll see what happens.”

West led 24-7 after one quarter on a steal and layup by Sifford. Minter started the second quarter with a turnaround jumper, followed by a Scooter Dalton assist to Williams and a pretty weave through the middle by Sherrill. Suddenly, it was 30-7, a hole to deep for Sun Valley.

West led 53-29 before a mild comeback cut the lead to 13, 53-40 going into the fourth. But Sherrill keyed a 21-12 spurt in the fourth to put it away.

“We’re really starting to pick each other up,” said Gurley.

It was a festive atmosphere, to say the least. The fans who crammed into the gym are hoping that Tuesday night, they’ll be invited back to another Mount Ulla party — a block party, hosted, of course, by Donte Minter.

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