GRANITEQUARRY — All told, Derek Kurnitsky kept a cool head during his coaching debut at East Rowan.
Three seconds into Tuesday’s contest against Jay Robinson, the fiery Kurnitsky stomped the floor hard with his right foot. A quick succession of five more followed before even a minute had passed.
The stomps continued, and so did the Mustangs’ dominance.
East shot out to an early
10-0 lead and cruised to an
88-49 win against the Bulldogs on Tuesday. Kurnitsky’s sportcoat never came off his back, nor did he get whistled for any technical fouls.
By 10:35 p.m., Kurnitsky was all smiles as he savored his first victory as a varsity head coach.
“The first win of my career, it’s awesome,” Kurnitsky said. “Maybe in my wildest dreams did Ithink we’d win by 39, but I’m very happy.”
The Mustangs came out of the gates strong and never slowed up. They were ahead by 10 only three minutes into the game and never led by less than double digits after the first 10 minutes.
Sharpshooters Eric Taylor and Brent Whitley led the way for East. Taylor, a freshman point guard, was 5 of 8 from the field and scored 17 points. Taylor hit four of his five
3-point attempts.
“I was a little nervous, a lot nervous,”Taylor said. “It’s different from middle school to high school, everybody’s bigger and quicker.”
Said Kurnitsky, “He said, ‘Coach, I’m nervous.’ If that’s nervous, I hope he’s nervous before every game.”
Whitley, who hit two from downtown, also scored 17 points for the Mustangs.
East put three other players in double figures, including junior Derek Talbert, who made two 3-pointers and finished with 14 points. Matt Belk and Kenny Abel scored 14 and 11, respectively.
East hit 11 of its 23 attempts from beyond the arc.
“We push the ball, and the kids know what spots to go to,” Kurnitsky said. “They ran the system, and they ran it very well.
“Run run run till my daddy takes my T-Bird away,” he added.
The Mustangs were able to run and run some more thanks to a defense that forced Jay Robinson into 19 turnovers.
The Bulldogs hung around for a little while, but they couldn’t keep up with East’s fast-paced style of play.
The Mustangs led by 16 points at halftime and 17 after three quarters before outscoring Jay Robinson 32-10 in the final quarter.
“We want to show the county we can play, that we mean business,” Talbert said. “We want teams to not want to play us.”
Kurnitsky points to the offseason workouts his players went through as a major reason for Tuesday night’s success.
Kurnitsky has been on the job for only five months, but his impact is evident, even if the Mustangs have played just one game.
“We made a statement tonight that we’re not going to be pushovers,” Kurnitsky said. “We’re not going to be an easy out for anybody, and we’re going to win our share of games.”
For now, Kurnitsky can look back with reverence to win No. 1.
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Contact Bret Strelow at 704-797-4258 or bstrelow@salisburypost.com
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