As magnificent and focused and awe-inspiring as West Rowan’s boys basketball team has been all season, an equally amazing story has unfolded over in Spencer.
Think about it. In January, who would’ve given North Rowan one chance in a thousand to be playing at Burlington Cummings in the second round of the 2A state playoffs tonight at 7.
A quick refresher course if you’ve forgotten just how abysmally this season began for North. The Cavs had played 15 games — that’s right, 15 — before they beat anyone that didn’t have East Rowan on their jerseys.
Everyone wanted payback for the destruction the Cavs had wreaked on them the previous two seasons. Everyone pretty much got it.
Davie County beat these guys by 40. A.L. Brown waxed them by 30. What West did to them three times isn’t suitable for family reading.
And then North’s only big man left the team during the Christmas Tournament.
At one point, North stood 1-5 and going nowhere in a league that outside of Lexington doesn’t exactly make anyone tremble. The talent level? What talent level? Senior guard Lamar Geter, North’s top gun, didn’t make the team last year. The best post player James House, had scored 47 career points going into his senior season. The third option, forward Tristan Rankin, was a jayvee last year.
There’s little height, and at least by North standards, limited quickness outside of Geter. But here the Cavs (13-14) are, No. 3 seed from the Central Carolina Conference, and still playing on the final day of February.
A Monroe coach called the Post Saturday looking for the scoring averages of the Cavs prior to their first-round playoff matchup. We dutifully provided him with names and numbers on Geter (13 ppg), House (10 ppg) and Rankin (9 ppg).
“That only adds up to 32 points,” he said.
“They don’t score much,” we answered.
And that’s true. A 60-point night like the Cavs had in beating Monroe in OT is practically an explosion for them. Two starters — forward Mike Pemberton and guard Dominique Bates — are on the floor strictly because they like to defend. Sixth man Jamar Connor gets big minutes because he crashes the boards.
The points come, in all honesty, wherever the Cavs happen to find them. Lately, they’ve found just enough. And that’s why they’ve won nine of 11.
Kudos to West’s Mike Gurley for a fantastic job all season, but don’t overlook North’s Kelly Everhart. He’s done a remarkable job of molding a team out of a group of individuals who had less than zero chemistry when 2002 started.
The bad news in this feel-good tale is that Everhart knows what he’s up against tonight. Cummings is 19-4 and won the North State Conference. Let’s put it this way: Reidsville, the steamroller which demolished Salisbury in the first round, was runner-up to Cummings in the NSC.
“We know Cummings is a No.1 seed and we know they’re an awesome team,” said Everhart. “We saw what kind of athletes they have when they beat us (68-34) in the football playoffs. I know those same guys will be on the court tonight.”
Everhart acknowledges even the most die-hard Cav backer doesn’t give his team a prayer, but he shrugs and promises his over-achieving believers will show up in Burlington anyway.
“It’s basketball and when you get out on the floor most anything can happen,” smiled Everhart.
That almost anything can happen is something these Cavs have already proven.
Regardless of tonight’s outcome, these guys deserve a hand — and all the credit in the world.
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