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January 27, 2000
Salisbury Post; Rowan County, NC

Local News

101 points for Falcons

BY ED DUPREE
SALISBURY POST

           
KANNAPOLIS — West Rowan’s boys hit the century mark for the first time in the millennium here Wednesday night.

Led by senior guard Scooter Sherrill’s 30 points, coach Mike Gurley’s Falcons stayed unbeaten in the 3A South Piedmont Conference race with a 101-73 victory over Northwest Cabarrus.

It’s the first time a West team has scored 100 or more since the Falcons tallied 108 against Northwest two seasons ago. It’s also the 11th time the Falcons have scored 100 in school history.

“Northwest forces you to score a hundred. They don’t let up,” said Gurley, whose Falcons improved to 11-0 in the SPC and 17-1 overall with their seventh straight win.

“It’s constant pressure,” Gurley said, referring to the Trojans’ fast offensive pace and pressure defense. “It’s a fun way to play. They force you to make plays all night, and that’s what we had to do.”

West did not run up the score. The Falcons led by only 15 at 74-59 with six minutes to play. Reserves were on the floor a lot in the final quarter, and reserve forward Vicco Barringer’s basket on an assist from reserve guard Brandon Mattox gave the Falcons exactly 100 with 1:05 to play.

“The score’s deceiving,” said Gurley. “Northwest is going to come pressure you to death. We accomplished what we wanted to do, and that was win the game, but it was not easy. Since Greg McKenzie’s took over the program, any time you come down here’s not easy.”

Sherrill, who was 12-for-20 from the floor with a 3-pointer and 5-for-7 at the foul line, scored 30 or more points for the 18th time in his career, but it was far from a one-man show. Point guard Scooter Dalton came off the bench for 15 points, his highest game since transferring to West from Lexington. Starting post players Donte Minter and Frankie Williams scored 14 apiece, and forward Terris Sifford added 12.

“Scooter Dalton’s offensive game was a great positive. He’s been fairly self-focused on worrying about, ‘Am I contributing to this basketball team?’ What he does for us on the floor, he contributes to our basketball team,” said Gurley. Dalton, who had eight assists, five rebounds and three steals, is averaging 6.2 points with one previous double-figure outing, 13 points against Salisbury.

The West coach said Dalton didn’t start simply because he wanted to go with two big men, the 6-7 Minter and 6-6 Williams against smaller Northwest.

“Frankie Williams played huge,” said the West coach. The lanky senior made his first six shots before finally missing late in the third quarter. He was 7-for-9 for the night. “He shoots the ball well from medium range, but I thought he ran the floor pretty well tonight,” said Gurley.

Williams, Minter (6-for-9) and Dalton (5-for-7) led the way as the Falcons shot a sizzling 58.8 percent (40-for-68) from the floor.

West, which won 87-75 over the Trojans on its home court in December, had reason to be fired up for Northwest, even though the Trojans are only 6-5 in the league and 11-7 overall.

“Scooter Sherrill doesn’t get beat by a lot of people. When he does get beat by somebody, it sticks in his memory. They wore us out last year in Kannapolis (96-89 Northwest victory in SPC Tournament championship game). That told us, beyond a shadow of doubt, if you don’t come to play Northwest, you’re going to get slapped in the face,” exclaimed Gurley. “What they did to us last year was a good focus for us this year.”

“The guys that came off the bench were put in that role of having to make plays against Northwest. Brandon Mattox, Vicco Barringer, Timmy Mauldin, Jonathan Diggs and Josh Goodnight really picked us up. Barringer led that group with five points and four rebounds.

n

NOTES: Hustling senior guard Matt Hubbard led Northwest with 16 points, which included three 3-pointers. Also in double figures for the Trojans were Lamont McKnight and Brandon Smith with 12 apiece and Rogets Ferguson with 10. ... Hubbard fouled out (5:42 mark) for the first time in three varsity seasons. ... Minter had eight rebounds in the opening quarter before drawing his second foul and going to the bench. He had nine rebounds for the night, leading the Falcons to a commanding 48-31 rebound advantage. ... Sherrill had eight rebounds, three assists and two steals while playing in a school-record 107th game.

WEST ROWAN (101) — Sifford 12, Williams 14, Minter 14, Sherrill 30, Everhart 5, Dalton 15, Mauldin 2, Barringer 5, Mattox, Diggs, Goodnight 3, Trosper 1, Hyde.

NORTHWEST CABARRUS (73) — Ferguson 10, Reel 5, Raburn 8, McKnight 12, Hubbard 16, Carmichael 4, Lindsey 4, Smith 12, Burgess, Roseboro, Lyerly, Friend 2, Hoist.

West Rowan 23 23 26 29 — 101

NW Cabarrus 16 17 22 18 — 73

   

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