Jeff Boles, a reserve guard, sat in the Asheville Erwin locker room moments after his Warriors were smashed out of the Western 3A regionals, talking about the West Rowan press that did in his team, 80-50.

He said it was the best defense he and his teammates had seen.

What about Scooter Sherrill? What did you think about playing against him?

“He’s a high school player like the rest of us,” said Boyd. “He really didn’t meet my expectations.”

Obviously, 21 points, three dunks and four steals weren’t enough to impress.

Over in the other corner, Erwin star Rashad McCants was saying the same thing.

“We went at him like we would anybody else,” said the Warrior’s leading scorer.

And therein, lies the coaching strategy of Erwin’s Van Allen and West’s Mike Gurley.

Erwin had never been to a regional. So Allen must have worried about his team being scared out of its wits playing in front of 4,000 people packed into Shuford Memorial Gymnasium. All week, he tried to keep his players confident by convincing them they could play with Scooter.

On the other hand, Gurley seems to always be in the regionals. He had to convince his kids not to be overconfident and not to overlook the opponent.

He said Rashad McCants’ name at least 1,000 times in the week leading up to the game. He rode Terris Sifford unmercifully. He reminded Scooter that McCants was good enough as a sophomore to be a future Scooter.

Live and learn when it comes to mental preparation. Allen did.

“We were going to come out and play man (on Scooter) and see what happens,” the Erwin coach said afterward. “We figured we couldn’t do that very long.”

Maybe he realized that when Scooter followed a Terris Sifford miss with a flying, slam dunk that tied the score at 6 and brought the full house to its feet.

“We’ve come to another level,” Allen admitted.

The former Falcon star — all seven feet of him — was in attendance last night, along with many other stars who have worn those blue, intimidating jerseys. And when Scooter and his team goes deep into the playoffs (this is his third regional final in four seasons), the former players go too.

Hall enjoys eyeing first-time Scooter-watchers, who come in not knowing what to expect, other than what they’ve read.

“To everybody else, it’s like he’s the Michael Jordan of high school,” said Hall, whose career has been ravaged by injuries and whose senior season at East Carolina is over. “But everybody in Cleveland knew what he was going to be.”

That’s Cleveland, a small dot on the Rowan County map, not the Cleveland that is home to the NBA Cavaliers.

In this little village, you play basketball. You play it very well and very often.

“Scooter has been playing with me since he was in elementary school,” said Hall, a 1995 graduate, who ironically, had his last year squashed in the regional finals by Lexington and a coach named Gurley. “You could see it. He could dunk in middle school and he wasn’t even tall.”

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Boles may have been expecting a 30-point game from Scooter but on Friday night, the Falcons didn’t need it. He played defense instead.

A steal and layup. A steal and dunk. A steal and turnaround jumper.

But he had to share the defensive player of the game with Horatio Everhart, Scooter Dalton, Tim Mauldin, Frankie Williams, Donte Minter ... everybody, really.

When Ronnie Boyd, Erwin’s mercurial point guard went down with a knee injury 52 seconds into the game, it was pretty much over. Boles and the other reserves couldn’t handle the press.

“I’m not used to getting in games a lot,” he said. “I did the best I could. That’s the toughest team we’ve played.”

“I’m trying to be gracious when I say it’s awful Boyd came out,” Gurley said. “But it would’ve happened anyway. I could see it coming.”

By halftime, it was 44-24 and Allen had to tell his kids the truth.

“I told them they were scared,” he said.

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While Scooter and the 28-1 Falcons mesmerized the Warriors and the packed house, McCants was having his problems. It was easy to see his quickness and ultra-talent but a superstar can’t be a superstar if he doesn’t get the ball. And he seldom got it because West had usually stolen it by the time Erwin got to halfcourt. He finished with eight points while being blanketed by Sifford.

“Scooter may not have met their expectations but McCants only had eight so he didn’t meet mine,” Gurley said. “Our defense met my expectations.”

Thanks mostly to Sifford, a 6-3 junior.

“T is like Billy King,” said Gurley of the former defensive whiz at Duke. “He probably doesn’t even know who Billy King is. He has to work on his offense but he can get a college scholarship with that defense.”

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Erwin trudged out of the locker room to the hugs of their still-loyal fans. It’s a good bet they’ll be back here. Allen’s team is loaded with sophomores and juniors.

Scooter wandered out in the lobby, standing close to the Paul Cuthbertsons and the Halls.

“They had a lot of chances to win it all,” Scooter said, nodding the way of the former Falcons. “They never did. So we’re playing as much for them as us. They’re the ones who started this.”

How did Scooter feel about the guys from Cleveland still coming to watch him and still supporting their school?

He smiled.

“They’ll never forget West Rowan,” he said.

Whether Scooter met their expectations or not, it’s a good bet Asheville Erwin won’t either.

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