MOUNTULLA — West Rowan senior Donte Minter scored a school-record 44 points against Salisbury early last season.
Minter scored a mundane 16 as the flying Falcons destroyed the Hornets 80-33 on Tuesday.
But the funny thing is, the 6-foot-8 Minter played a better all-round game last night than when he made history.
“In the past, I fell in love with Donte for his points and his rebounds,” said West coach Mike Gurley. “Now, I’m falling in love with his intangibles.”
It’s a long way until Valentine’s Day, but Gurley does sound smitten. He lauded Minter’s outlet passes, his defense, and especially his improving ability to spot open teammates and deliver the ball to them when he’s tag-teamed.
“Donte’s seeing the game now — the whole game,” said Gurley. “His basketball I.Q. is so high.”
Of course, most everything about Minter is high. His arms, his neck, his shoulders. He blocked at least eight Hornet shots and probably altered another half dozen.
Neither team scored for the first two minutes, 43 seconds, but once the Falcons finally did commence scoring (on two Minter free throws), they rarely stopped.
It was 11-0 before Salisbury got a free throw from Greg Edward to dent the scoreboard.
It was 18-1 by the time Andre Bruce scored the Hornets’ first field goal.
And by then it wasn’t a matter of if, but by how much.
“We were just overwhelmed by West’s size and by the speed of the game,” said Salisbury coach Drew Mathews.
The Hornets did look awed — by Minter, as well as his partners in climb, 6-7 Junior Hairston and 6-7 Phillip Williams.
Maybe West wasn’t quite as impressive as in its opening-night win at Central Cabarrus — mostly because the talented Hairston wasn’t clicking — but it was close enough.
“West is so explosive,” said Mathews. “We never did attack them and they just beat us in every phase of the game.”
West led 39-12 at halftime. The bulge swelled to 57-26 after three quarters and blossomed to 40-plus margins in the fourth.
West placed four in double figures, led by senior guard Horatio Everhart’s 19. It was the second-best scoring game of his career. Everhart nailed two 3s and sparked a Falcon defense that forced 24 Hornet turnovers.
Minter had to get half his points at the foul line, as the Hornets got physical with him and rarely let him spin without drawing a crowd.
But Williams took up some of Minter’s scoring slack with 12 points. The junior displayed his versatility with two mammoth dunks and a 3-pointer.
“Phillip set out to play his game tonight,” said Gurley. “He was in foul trouble at Central.”
Hairston and Minter had two early fouls each, but West didn’t miss a beat when it turned to Williams, Everhart, sixth-man Brian Avery (10 points) and point guard T.J. Gaither for leadership.
The telling play of the night came early in the third quarter. West was leading 40-14, but that didn’t stop Minter from throwing his mass to the floor to come up with a loose ball that led to a throw-down by the high-rising Williams.
“I always hustle, because I want to win,” said Minter. “We practice so hard. When the game comes, it doesn’t matter who we’re playing or what the score is. We’re going to stay focused and we’re going to go at them hard.”
West went at the Hornets hard enough to hold them to the lowest point total scored by a Falcon opponent since West hammered East Rowan 92-33 in 1998-99.
“This team could be great,” said Minter.
No one’s arguing. Least of all, Mathews. “We were taught a valuable lesson tonight,” he said. “We just have to build on this and try to get better.”
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NOTES:West has won its last six against Salisbury. ... The last time the Hornets beat West was in Gurley’s first game as a Falcon in 1997-98. ... Salisbury hadn’t scored so few points in a game since it lost to Albemarle 46-30 in 1995-96. ... Edward, a 6-5 junior, led the Hornets with eight points.
SALISBURY (33) — Edward 8, Bruce 6, Spears 5, Campbell 5, Roten 3, Geter 2, Boyd 2, Cuthbertson 2, Field 2, Davis 22, Hill 1, Butler.
WEST ROWAN (80) — Everhart 19, Minter 16, P. Williams 12, Avery 10, Hairston 4, Gaither 4, J. Williams 4, Ramsey 4, White 2, Hartsell 2, Scearce 2, Butler 1, Johnson, Patterson.
Salisbury 3 9 14 7 — 33
West Rowan 18 21 18 23 — 80
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Contact Mike London at 704-797-4259 or mlondon@salisburypost.com
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