STATESVILLE — First Donte Minter held the net.
Then Junior Hairston stole it from him — before Falcons head coach Mike Gurley took possession of the souvenir.
“This is going on the game ball,” Gurley told Hairston following West’s 97-65 victory over A.L. Brown in the championship game of the North Piedmont Conference Tournament.
The way the Falcons played Friday night, every net from every basket in the Statesville High gym — even the practice rims suspended high in the air — wouldn’t have been enough to go around.
Seven different players scored in double figures to pace the West blowout, the team’s 25th win in 25 tries. The formula for success against the Wonders proved little different than in all the other wins: great inside play leading to great outside play, with a hefty helping of defense and rebounding thrown in for good measure.
“We did the right plays and our men got open,” said West senior point guard Horatio Everhart, who didn’t miss a shot in the second half and finished with 15 points. “It’s really hard — we’re really good when we play together as a team.”
Joining Everhart with big nights in the backcourt were Darren Ramsey, Brian Avery and T.J. Gaither. As the Wonders (18-7) focused on West center Donte Minter (19 points, 10 rebounds), he turned into a playmaker.
Gaither scored eight of his 10 points in the second quarter, helping West pull away for a 53-33 advantage at the break. Avery played steadily, finishing with 11 points on 7-for-9 shooting. Ramsey, meanwhile, missed just one of his attempts from 3-point range. His three triples in the final quarter gave him 12 points.
“You try to sag in to help out on the big guys and they kick it out to the guards and knock down 3s,” Wonders head coach Shelwyn Klutz said. “You’ve got to give up something, and if those guys are hitting the outside shot it’s going to be a long night. What do you do?”
If you’re Gurley, the answer to that question is easy: Sit back and enjoy.
“We’re just an overall team. Minter’s the hub of what we try to do, but they did a good job of defending Donte,” the West coach said. “You can look at it a couple different ways — it forced him or it allowed him — to give our guards opportunities to go make plays. I’m proud of them for what they did.”
The Falcon big men did their share of damage as well. West, which shot 59 percent from the field overall, scored an amazing 25 points on second-chance opportunities.
Hairston enjoyed an active game with 14 points and 13 boards. Phillip Williams added 11 points and nine rebounds, including a spectacular two-handed slam off a missed free throw in which he simply went over a Wonder to get the job done.
West finished the game with a 41-26 rebounding margin and, in another “hustle stat,” blocked nine shots to the Wonders’ two.
“This is the third time we played a very good basketball team, and Coach Klutz and his players were going to compete and make adjustments,” Gurley said. “One of the things we saw as an imperative was how good Kannapolis rebounds. Maybe our emphasis of trying to keep them off their offensive glass resulted in us doing better on our own offensive glass.”
The strong inside game came despite limited minutes from Minter, who spent more time than usual on the bench with foul trouble. He still poured in his share of points thanks to 8-for-9 shooting in the paint, however, and wowed the standing-room-only crowd with a variety of moves.
“It feels great so far. I’m loving every minute of it,” Minter said of ending a perfect regular season. “Hopefully it’s not finished yet and we’ll keep going on and on. I kind of hate it because I’m a senior this year.”
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NOTES: West owns a first-round bye in the 3A playoffs. Gurley said West likely will play the winner of Asheboro-Weddington. Brackets should be released some time today. … The Wonders hit a few 3-pointers, including Brandon Thomas’ shot at the first-quarter buzzer, to stay close for a while. West led only 25-19 heading into the second, but reeled off a pair of 6-0 spurts and a 9-0 run to take control. … Thomas led A.L. Brown with 13 points, while Avery Patterson added 11 and John Graham 10. … Klutz was pleased with his team’s 10 turnovers against the high-pressure Falcons. West actually led in that stat 13-10, perhaps the first time this year committing more turnovers than forcing. … The Wonders had to win the tourney to get the second seed from the NPC. Instead, A.L. Brown will be No. 3 next week and travel.
A.L. Brown (65) — Campbell 3, Reeves 2, Patterson 11, Thomas 13, Franklin 1, Ardrey 2, Allison 8, Miller 5, Graham 10, Robinson 4, Barrier 6, Blackmon, Collins, Powell, Abercrombie.
West Rowan (97) — Gaither 10, Avery 11, White 2, Ramsey 12, Hairston 14, Everhart 15, P.Williams 11, J.Williams 3, Minter 19, Scearce, Johnson, Patterson, Hartsell.
A.L. Brown 19 14 16 16 — 65
West Rowan 25 28 20 24 — 97
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Contact Steve Hanf at 704-797-4256 or shanf@salisburypost.com
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