Jason Williams had just ended the game by hitting two free throws — the 10th and 11th straight of the second half for West Rowan’s boys basketball team.
Trinity coach Tim Kelly was seen shaking his head as the last seconds ticked off of the Falcons’ 66-44 rout of his Bulldogs Wednesday afternoon in the 3A sectional playoffs.
You could almost read his mind: “Does West Rowan ever mess up in any phase of the game?”
It didn’t seem that way. West (23-5) was overwhelming on the boards and played a spirited defense.
“They’re good, guys,” Kelly told a group of reporters afterward.
What Kelly was unaware of was that Trinity’s demise was a certainty before the game was ever played. West Rowan is especially good after losses and in sectional tournaments.
Don’t believe it? Listen up.
You have to go back to 1992 to find the last time the Falcons lost two consecutive games.
And if West can get past High Point Andrews (22-6)tonight (7 p.m. start), it will be the 10th time in the past 12 years that the Falcons have won their sectional.
So basically, Kelly caught Mike Gurley’s bunch on the worst possible night. The team was coming off a loss — and not a pretty one — to Sun Valley, 55-40 in the South Piedmont Conference Tournament.
“It’s nothing I did, boys — they don’t take kindly to coming off losses,” Gurley told the same group of impressed sportswriters, all but one seeing West play for the first time. “That’s West Rowan basketball tradition. I knew we’d be ready because of that.”
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Despite one of the best performances of the season, Gurley didn’t seem as talkative and jovial as usual.
Oh sure, he was happy that West played a 4 p.m. game. That gave him the chance to actually eat a nice, relaxing (Gurley relaxed?) supper with his H-team: wife Heather and son Hayden. But there was a distinct edge to his voice.
You see, Mike Gurley doesn’t take kindly to losing, either. What do you expect? The guy’s won 102 of 117 games in four seasons here. So when a rare defeat does occur, he hits that locker room and practice with a vengeance. It’s like he has to prove himself all over again — and so does his team.
“You know Gurley,” chuckled 6-7 sophomore Junior Hairston. “He gave us a speech. I think we responded pretty well.”
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As far as Gurley is concerned, West is 0-for-its-last-three tournaments, starting with last year’s Western 3A regionals.
“I remember playing (Asheville) Erwin well and letting Central Cabarrus take that puppy from us,” he said. “I remember playing Davie real well and North Rowan taking it from us (in the Christmas Tournament). I remember playing Concord and Kannapolis real well and letting Sun Valley take it from us.
“So we’ve done nothing.”
Nothing? Don’t let the complimentary Kelly hear that.
“I told my guys, ‘If you want to play in college, that’s the size you’re going to see on the next level. You won’t see 5-11 and 6-2 guys.”
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Gurley’s scowl will surely remain for tonight’s game against Frank Hairston’s Raiders of High Point Andrews.
Who can forget two seasons ago before the Western Regional finals when Hairston couldn’t remember the name of West’s best player?
You know, that kid named Scooter Sherrill.
That motivated Scooter, who didn’t play well at all until his team needed him in the final seconds and he scored the last six points of the game — in a six-point victory that propelled the Falcons into the 3A state title game.
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Hairston may have a harder time knowing the name of this year’s star Falcon because there isn’t just one. There are several of them.
You focus on 6-8 Donte Minter and Hairston will drive the stake in your heart. Focus on Hairston and it might be Timmy Mauldin drilling you with a three. Focus on Mauldin and Terris Sifford will stun you with defensive intensity. Forget about Horatio Everhart and the fastest player in 3A will burn you with a steal and layup. Get someone in foul trouble? Gurley brings in Phillip Williams, another 6-7 muscleman.
And on and on and on. It’s enough to leave a coach bewildered — and like Kelly, shaking his head.
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Tonight, West will be coming off a win but you can bet every one of those Falcons will still be remembering Sun Valley.
“That loss hurt us real bad,” Sifford said.
“It made us mad,” Mauldin said. “But it motivated us a lot.”
Motivated and mad? As the Trinity Bulldogs can tell you from first-hand experience, when West Rowan puts those two emotions together, the Falcons seldom mess up.
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Ronnie Gallagher is the sports editor of the Post.
Ronnie