CONCORD — Horatio Everhart wouldn’t let a little flu or virus stop him on West Rowan’s record-setting night.
Everhart didn’t miss a field goal attempt while helping the red-hot Falcons set a county and school record in a 112-65 high school basketball romp over Concord here Tuesday night.
West (17-4 overall and 13-0 in the 3A South Piedmont Conference) clinched a share of the league championship when Central Cabarrus knocked off Sun Valley 79-59 last night. Sun Valley and Harding have each lost three conference games.
Everhart, a junior guard, went 7-for-7 on field goals, making two 3-pointers, and scored a career-high 20 points.
West broke the old county and school record of 110 set by the Falcons againstNorth Stanly in 1995.
Everhart didn’t get to see the West reserves go over 100, then break the record, because he had been sick all night and was in the locker room throwing up in the fourth quarter. His shooting touch, however, was alive and well.
“Coach just told me to go out there and play hard, even though I am sick,” said the quick junior guard .
“I just went out there and gave it 100 percent, and it paid off.”
Center Donte Minter led the Falcons’ scoring with 21 points. Everhart, TimmyMauldin(18), Phillip Williams (16) and Terris Sifford (12) were also in double figures.
“We’re playing great. We’re playing as a team now. As we get on down the line, we’ve got to step up and continue to play hard,” said Everhart.
West jumped ahead of the Spiders (4-17, 3-11) early, but wasn’t on a record scoring pace until racking up 35 points in the second quarter. That gave the Falcons 61 at halftime.
Three West starters got the first 12 points of the fourth quarter, pushing the total to 97, then coach Mike Gurley went with a group of reserves — Josh Goodnight, AdamPritchard, T.J. Gaither, Shawn Trosper and Kendall High.
Gaither hit a free throw to reach 100 by the 4:39 mark, and he followed with a 3-pointer. The 6-foot-8 Goodnight scored West’s next five points. High’s basket tied the old school record of 110, then Pritchard put the finishing touch on the record by scoring off an offensive rebound with 17 seconds to play.
Pritchard said of the record-breaking basket, “It feels pretty good. I worked hard for it.”
He said the West reserves didn’t talk about scoring 100 or more points while waiting to enter the game or while on the floor.
“We were working together as a team, playing hard,” said the senior. “We didn’t worry about the score, just playing as a team, trying to get better.”
Gurley said he never thought about how many points his team was scoring.
“Coach Parker and his guys are out there trying to do their best and they’re playing hard. No disrespect to Concord, but when a season gets long like this, if the team that’s having a pretty good year can get out to a good start, that really helps. That’s what happened tonight,” said the West coach. “Sometimes you can discourage teams who are having the season they don’t want.”
Concord raced up and down the court and actually got off as many shots, 77, as did the Falcons. The fast pace played by coach Foster Parker’s Spiders made it that much easier for West to break the record.
Billy Smith paced the home team with 12 points, while Demario Peay and Greg Cummings added 11 and 10, respectively.
“I was just pleased with the way our kids played,” said the West coach. “Based on what are goals are, this game helped us get one step closer to the goal we have. That’s the wayI view it. We’re trying to win the SouthPiedmont Conference.”
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NOTES: West has scored 100 or more points 13 times in school history and 12 times in the last 10 years. ... West, led by Everhart, Minter (9-for-12) and Phillip Williams (6-for-9) made 41 of its 77 shots (53.2 percent) and added 23-for-32 at the foul line. Concord was 23-for-77 (29.9 percent) from the floor and 14-for-22 at the foul line. ... West-Concord used to be a big rivalry, but the Falcons won twice over the Spiders by a combined total of 75 points. ... The Falcons pounded the Spiders 48-31 on the boards with Phillip Williams and Mauldin grabbing seven rebounds apiece. ... Minter blocked four shots, Goodnight blocked two and Everhart even blocked one on a night when he could do no wrong. ... Sifford led the Falcons with six assists. ... Starting forward Junior Hairston missed the game because of illness.
WESTROWAN (112) — P.Williams 16, Sifford 12, Minter 21, Everhart 20, Mauldin 18, Barringer 2, J. Williams 6, Pritchard 2, Trosper, Diggs 2, Gaither 4, Goodnight 7, High 2, Johnson.
CONCORD (65) — Johnson 3, Fairley, Cunningham 4, Cooke 6, Smith 12,Howard 7, Cummings 10, Peay 11, Newell 4, Tims 4, Perry 2, Grindstaff 2.
West Rowan 26 35 24 27 — 112
Concord 11 25 16 13 — 65
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