ICARD — The band of white tape and the ice pack wrapped around Donte Minter’s left wrist told the tale of West Rowan’s 86-75 Western Regional semifinal win over Gastonia Ashbrook on Friday night.
The big guy went after this game so aggressively that he actually hyper-extended that wrist on a furious first-half dunk.
But Minter’s pain was the Falcons’ gain.
While the 6-foot-8 senior spent much of the second half shaking his wrist, he left Ashbrook defenders shaking their heads in dismay as he dropped a season-high 35 points on them.
“Donte was pretty good,” said West coach Mike Gurley in one of the understatements of the millennium.
Minter didn’t score for nearly seven minutes at the outset of the game, but once he got started he refused to stop.
“Early, I didn’t get the ball much, but I started moving around more and my teammates started finding me,” said Minter.
With West leading only 13-11, Minter stepped out to nail a surprise 3, then swiped a pass and hammered home a flying slam.
That five-point spree triggered a Falcon flurry that lasted the rest of the first half.
A Junior Hairston steal and another Minter dunk gave West its first double-digit lead at 23-13 early in the second quarter.
The lead swelled to 15 when another Hairston steal led to a Horatio Everhart 3-pointer.
And the Falcons (28-0), who tied the school record for victories, led by a stunning 20 at 35-15 after T.J. Gaither’s steal led to a soaring jam by Hairston.
Minter scored 21 points in the final nine minutes of the first half, but amazing as he was, the real story of West’s 46-27 halftime lead was defense, defense and more defense.
“We played as hard as we could, but West Rowan was too big. Those guys were just too much for us,” said heady Ashbrook point guard Brad Falls.
“No one had ever come after us on the wings like they did. Other teams we’ve played just sat back and let us ran our plays. But West never let us set anything up.”
West has obviously played great games over the past few months, but given the circumstances — 3,000 or so screaming fans in the East Burke High Gym, a 24-3 opponent and all that was riding on this one — that first half may have been the Falcons’ best 16 minutes of the season.
West shot 61 percent in the first half, nailed five 3s, owned the boards and Hairston, Darren Ramsey and Jason Williams slowed down Ashbrook star Britton Thomas, who would still finish with 25.
West cruised for a good portion of the second half, but with Minter resting his wrist and defensive ace Horatio Everhart sitting down with four fouls, Ashbrook got its second wind and made a run that melted West’s huge lead all the way down to 69-62 with 4:22 remaining.
“I told my guys Ashbrook wasn’t going to stop and they learned that,” said Gurley. “I told them at halftime, they were going to battle us for 32 minutes. It’s not like they’re Sister Mary’s Parochial School or something.”
But a Gurley timeout calmed things down. Out of that timeout, Brian Avery fed Minter for a layup and an Avery steal led to a Phillip Williams slam — just 36 seconds after his twin brother (Jason) had flushed one.
That dunk lifted the Falcons out of danger and sent them into a 4 p.m. clash today with T.C. Roberson, which rallied past Trinity 64-55 last night.
ASHBROOK (75) — Thomas 25, Cathcart 14, Adams 12, Falls 8, Littlejohn 8, France 4, Fox 2, Briggs 2.
W.ROWAN (86) — Minter 35, Hairston 14, P.Williams 13, Everhart 8, Avery 8, Gaither 4, J.Williams 4, Ramsey, Hartsell, Scearce, Johnson, Patterson, White.
Ashbrook 13 14 21 27 — 75
W.Rowan 21 25 16 24 — 86
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Contact Mike London at 704-797-4259 or mlondon@salisburypost.com
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