|
MOUNTULLA— It doesn’t matter how many consecutive wins the West Rowan boys basketball team has. It doesn’t matter who the West Rowan boys are playing.
Coach Mike Gurley does not stereotype teams because of their record.
That’s why he wrote 1-9, 2-15 on the board before Tuesday night’s game. That was the record of Greg McKenzie’s Northwest Cabarrus’ Trojans.
“I evaluate the program, not the record,” Gurley said. “I know Greg McKenzie and how hard he gets his team to play. I told my guys to look at that record but if you think that’s how they’re going to play, you’re quite mistaken.”
Northwest did play hard, but let’s face it. When you’re a team of short guys playing against tall trees — and talented tall trees — a win just isn’t going to happen.
And it didn’t. West began pulling away in the second period and cruised to an easy 76-50 South Piedmont Conference win.
The Falcons remained undefeated in the league at 11-0 and their sixth straight win upped their overall mark to 15-4.
Instead of treating the win with a ho-hum attitude, Gurley was as pumped as if he had won the league title. Why? Because his group played hard. All 15 of them.
“I was very impressed with how hard and how well we all played,” he said. “It’s impractical to carry 15 on a team and I’d like to get back to 12. But we have so many kids who do right by the program that we want to do right by them.”
So that’s why Gurley shrugged off the easiest 20-point night of Donte Minter’s career and focused on his bench.
Gurley was ecstatic when Adam Pritchard made two good moves in the lane for buckets. He was delirious when Kendall High put two rebounds into the basket. He was elated over Vicco Barringer getting in the scoring column. He beamed when Jason Williams sank a turnaround jumper. And more than anything else, he was proud of Shawn Trosper, who gave up opportunities to score so he could get the ball to Michael Johnson for shots.
But then again, when isn’t Gurley ecstatic and delirious and elated and beaming and proud to be a part of this sport.
“Those guys don’t get the glory but they are part of this basketball team,” Gurley gushed. “They bust it every day in practice.”
But back to the starters, who built up a lead so the supporting cast could get some precious minutes.
It wasn’t a rout from the start. McKenzie’s little whirling dervish Ben Burgess was all over the court, launching 25-footers, driving underneath and past Minter and 6-7 Junior Hairston — and when he scored on a drive early in the second quarter, Northwest trailed just 20-16.
“I felt really good then,” said McKenzie, one of the few SPCcoaches to actually beat Gurley in the last three years. “We tried to use our small size to our advantage and make them chase us. We wanted their big guys to play defense longer. But they have a great team and they played great tonight.”
Turnovers did in the Trojans. The miscues led to West finishing the period on a 20-9 run in what amounted to a layup drill. In the second, Minter hit six of the chippies and scored 14 of his 16 first-half points. When Minter and Horatio Everhart started the third quarter with layups, it was 50-27.
West’s biggest lead came after the Falcons whipped off the first nine points of the final quarter, five by Pritchard, who did his best Minter impersonation underneath. That made it 69-36.
“We reached our agenda tonight,” Gurley said. “And that was to play hard. I know it sounds like a cliche but we absolutely try to play hard every game.
“Usually, when the lead gets to 20, it turns into junk time and everybody thinks, ‘Hey, I’m going to score.’ But these guys played the way we want them to. And we were proud of the way they played.”
All 15 of them.
n
NOTES: Mauldin scored all 13 of his points in the first half. ... 6-7 soph Phillip Williams came off the bench to add 12. ... Burgess, a 5-6 guard, was congratulated by West fans while dragging himself to the locker room afterward. He gained the respect of everyone with his 18-point performance. ... Of Minter, McKenzie could only sigh, “He’s tough, ain’t he?” ... Eleven Falcons scored. ... West hosts a talented Kannapolis team Friday night.
NWCABARRUS (50) — Burgess 18, Johnson 12, Lyerly 7, Hendry 7, Andrews 4, Nance 2.
WEST ROWAN (76)— Minter 20, Mauldin 13, P. Williams 12, Sifford 6, Pritchard 5, Hairston 5, J. Williams 4, High 4, Barringer 3, Goodnight 2, Everhart 2, Johnson, Diggs.
NWCabarrus 12 15 9 14 — 50
West Rowan 18 28 14 16 — 76
|
Today's News