STATESVILLE — It wasn’t the humidity inside Statesville’s gymnasium that melted A.L. Brown in Friday’s inaugural NPC championship game.

It was the heat from another West Rowan fastball.

“Freight train,” was how fifth-year coach Shelwyn Klutz described the Wonders’ 97-65 public flogging. “Two major things happened. We got outrebounded and our transition defense allowed them to get away from us. They got second shots. They got the loose balls. A team like ours can’t afford to do that.”

Roger, that. Unbeaten West seemed to play the game at 78 rpm — considerably quicker than Kannapolis wanted to — and easily pocketed its third blowout win over the Wonders. The Falcons took out a mortgage on the boards, rejected nine shots and scored 25 second-chance points.

“That team is for real,” guard Timmy Allison said, shaking his head after the Wonders got to tug on Superman’s cape. “They play good team ball. They have everything they need to go all the way.”

All the way, as in 3A state title? That remains a script not-yet-written, but for one night the Wonders served a dues-paying members of West’s Bum of the Week Club.

“We knew they were a great team,” disappointed senior Justin Robinson grimaced. “But we always thought we had a chance. If everyone had played at their top level, we could have had this game.”

Instead, Kannapolis quickly discovered it was in a race with a faster horse. The Wonders held their own in the opening period, when Brandon Thomas buried a 3-pointer at the buzzer to pull them within 25-19. But West — boasting a decided height advantage — responded with cool assuredness by scoring the first six points of the second period — four on left-side jumpers by T.J. Gaither and the last two on Donte Minter’s industrial-strength dunk.

“The whole thing was mental preparation,” Thomas decided. “We were definitely ready for them. We all were. They were just better at running the floor and not letting us get back on defense.”

It was more like self-defense than defense. The Falcons had an arsenal of weapons, placing seven scorers in double figures and milking 48 points out of its backcourt rotation of Gaither, Brian Avery, Darren Ramsey and Horatio Everhart.

“They’ve got guys at the guard position who can knock down threes and penetrate,” said Klutz. “That’s pretty sweet.”

It had all soured for Kannapolis by late in the second quarter. West scored nine straight points and mounted a 48-28 lead when Phillip Williams reeled in an offensive rebound and flushed down a Statue-of-Liberty slam.

“They knew I was the top rebounder for this team,” said Robinson, the 6-6 shot-blocking machine. “But they really boxed me out and took me out of the game. Maybe I was thinking too hard instead of playing hard.”

Whatever. West also put its suffocating, man-to-man defense on display for the overflow crowd, creating a fortress around the basket.

“They put a lot of pressure on the ball,” said Klutz. “It was hard to run our offense — and play our game — against that pressure. They took that away from us.”

By the time the clock expired the outcome had long been determined.

So now you know it, we know it and the Kannapolis boys basketball team knows it: West Rowan’s time has come.

Contact David Shaw at 704-797-4287 or sports@salisburypost.com .