Basketball fans who walked in late must have thought the scoreboard was malfunctioning, but in reality, everything was in working order at Goodman Gymnasium.
West Rowan indeed did lead South Rowan 19-1 after a quarter in the Sam Moir Christmas Classic finals. And by 45-12 at halftime. And it truly was 70-23 after three and it really was 85-27 — a staggering 52-point margin — with a little over three minutes left in the game.
The final in West’s eighth Christmas championship and first since 1998 was a mind-boggling 87-40. Yes, coach Mike Gurley’s top-seeded Falcons really did destroy a South team that has beaten Davie County and Mooresville by 47 points.
It was by far the most lopsided championship game in Moir history. The previous largest rout was Salisbury’s 89-60 mauling of South in 1991. The Falcons (11-0) scored the second-highest number of points in finals history, while holding third-seeded South (7-5) to the lowest number of points scored in any title game since 1987.
Of course, South wasn’t expected to be in the finals in the first place and obviously left something on the floor in its dramatic double-overtime semifinal win over Davie on Thursday.
“But no excuses,” said South coach John Davis. “We just couldn’t have played any worse. West is good and it seemed like every shot they took went in for them. We got in a hole at the start, and then the sand pulled in on us and the grave-digger covered us up.”
West didn’t make every shot, but it did make half of them. It also got seven 3-pointers from five different players.
But it was on defense where the Falcons were scary.
They attacked South from all angles, forcing turnovers on the perimeter and blocking shots (6-foot-8 MVP Donte Minter had six in the first half) inside. Whenever the Raiders fed the post, Minter and 6-7 sidekick Junior Hairston fed the ball right back to them.
“What killed us is that West really didn’t have to do that much to score,” said South guard Andrew Morgan, who represented the Raiders on the all-tournament team. “West’s guards put on a little pressure that we should have handled, but we lost our heads and got out of control. We turned it over in bad places — out at midcourt — and they just on down and laid it in.”
When South did get a shot, it wasn’t a very good one. Or even a moderately good one. Usually, it was a rushed prayer lofted toward the heavens over one of those six elastic arms Gurley has on the floor.
Pre-game rumor had it that since West had been denied the showdown game with Davie that it craved, it wouldn’t be excited about playing South for a third time. But that rumor was about as accurate as the Raiders’ 0-for-11 field-goal shooting in the first quarter.
“Honestly, it didn’t matter to our guys if we were playing South or Davie or UCLA,” said Gurley. “I think what you saw was our seniors stepping up. They were pumped up because they were playing for a tournament championship.”
“We wanted to prove we could win a tournament,” said West senior guard Horatio Everhart, who scored 17 spectacular points. “West hadn’t won one since the SPC Tournament in March of 2000.”
Gurley also reminded his team that even though it had won 51 games the past two seasons, it had not been a Moir titlist in that span, and therefore hadn’t been able to call itself the best team in Rowan County.
“I told the guys we had just accomplished one of our three goals,” said Gurley. “We proved we are the best team in Rowan County. Whatever happens down the road, these kids will know they were the best in the county this season.”
South never recovered from its brutal eight-turnover first quarter. It didn’t score at all until Tre Hornbeak made a free throw five minutes into the game to cut West’s lead to 10-1. It was 19-1 before Graham Corriher 3-point play opened the second quarter, and by then, it was all over.
Minter scored 21 points, despite making only a cameo appearance in the second half. The big guy’s most memorable hoop was his first one. He started the scoring by blocking a Raider shot, then thundering downcourt to finish the play with a layup.
Minter did it inside and out. With four minutes left in the first half, he was the trailer on a fastbreak. He took a pass from Phillip Williams at the top of the key and swished home a 3-pointer. That made it 34-9 and brought West fans to their feet.
“I felt the vibes on that one,” said Minter.
“I like Donte leading the break and I like him trailing it too,” said Gurley. “I want him to let it fly every time, because he shoots it so well.”
On this night, unless they were standing unmolested at the foul line, all the Falcons shot it well.
Everhart banged in back-to-back 3s in the opening moments of the second half to inform South there would be no letup in Falcon intensity.
“I just felt it tonight,” said Everhart. “I shot the ball at the right times.”
Darren Ramsey came off the bench to knock down back-to-back third quarter jumpers (West shot 10-for-15 in that stanza). And even when Gurley went deep to his bench, he got production.
Brent Patterson and Michael Johnson canned jumpers. Blake Scearce connected on a sweeping hook right out of the ’50s. Jason Williams hammered down a dunk and converted a flying tip-in. Guard Brian Avery added some incredibly tough offensive boards in traffic.
And that Falcon defense never rested.
“Late in the game, we had in (point guard) T.J. Gaither and four reserves and we still weren’t giving up any wide open shots,” said Gurley. “The guys on the floor were still trying to do what we work on in practice. When you see that kids are believing like that, well, it makes coaching easy and it makes it fun.”
The list of believers in the Falcons grew longer last night.
Fans didn’t see the competitive game they’d hoped for, but they still saw something very, very special.
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NOTES:West’s Phillip Williams went down hard on a layup attempt early in the game when he was fouled by South’s Zach Overcash. Asked if that was the spark that lit the fuse, Minter shook his head. “That play didn’t pump us up,” said the big man. “We were already pumped up.” ... Corriher led South with 12 points.
SOUTH ROWAN (40) — Corriher 12, Morgan 7, Lane 7, Hornbeak 5, Patterson 4, Mack 2, Barnhardt 2, Keener 1, Propst, Biles, Overcash, Thomas, Caudle, Robbins.
WEST ROWAN (87) — Minter 21, Everhart 17, Ramsey 7, P.Williams 7, Gaither 7, Hairston 6, Patterson 5, Avery 5, Johnson 5, J.Williams 4, Scearce 2, White 1, Hartsell.
South Rowan 1 11 11 17 — 40
West Rowan 19 26 25 17 — 87
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