BY DAVID SHAW
SALISBURY POST

ICARD — This wasn’t a work of beauty, only the work of champions.

And that’s exactly what West Rowan’s unblemished boys basketball team can call itself after Saturday’s atypical victory in the 3A Western Regional title game.

The Falcons didn’t play with their customary swagger against underdog T.C. Roberson, didn’t run the court like cheetahs at dinnertime, didn’t utilize big man Donte Minter’s omnipresent stature.

All they did was win — for the 29th time, no less — and advance to next weekend’s state championship game in Chapel Hill against Winston-Salem Parkland.

“No, no it wasn’t pretty,” Minter said at East Burke High School, where West staged a whip-cracking, fourth-quarter rally and fled the scene with a 54-42 win. “Not at all. But it was a much-needed game. We had to have this one.”

This one was achieved not because tournament-MVP Minter dominated as he had in Friday’s semifinal against Gastonia Ashbrook. In fact, a left wrist injury put him on pain-killers and curtailed his effectiveness.

It wasn’t because elastic forward Junior Hairston went off for 30 or 40 points, either. On the contrary, he was more spit than shine, more Jeep than Jaguar, in a solid-yet-restrained performance.

And it wasn’t because the Falcons shot the lights out. They didn’t. In the first half they couldn’t hit water with an anchor, missing nine of their first 10 field goal attempts and 23 of their first 31.

“It was a struggle,” said Hairston. “I believe it was Regional finals jitters. We came out nervous, tentative, but you’ve got to give T.C. Roberson credit for that. It was tough, but in the end you saw what happened.”

A boisterous matinee crowd saw another West player — stealth bomber Brian Avery — find the spotlight and make the game his own. The soft-spoken senior guard had a money-in-the-bank jump shot and netted 13 of his season-high 21 points in the final period. His back-to-back 3-pointers put West in the pilot’s seat and helped bring reckless afternoon in for a safe landing.

“Someone had to do it,” he said through smiling blue eyes. “Someone had to step up. If they were gonna play a zone (defense), we needed someone to be a scorer. We wanted them back in a man-to-man.”

Cue Avery. He opened the fourth quarter with a 3-pointer from the right side that tied the score, 31-31. Following an offensive foul on Roberson’s Greg Benton, Avery scurried to the left corner and made another long-distance connection — giving the Falcons the lead for keeps and turning the West cheering section into a human trampoline.

“I thought that was the ballgame right there,” Roberson coach Rich Sizemore said after the Rams (27-4) had their 19-game winning streak snapped. “If he misses those two, we’re still out there playing. But he made the shots and made the plays and that’s how you get to Chapel Hill.”

Avery was just getting started. He gave West a 38-33 lead with 5:20 to play when he took a pass in the lane, double-pumped in mid-air and hit a 10-foot jumper through heavy traffic.

Minter and Hairston teamed on another key basket. Only 1:39 remained when Hairston snapped a bounce- pass along the baseline to Minter, who banked home a shot and was fouled by Thomaal Conyers. The three-point play gave West a 47-39 edge.

“When I drove the baseline, Donte stepped in and called ‘Jay, Jay,’” Hairston explained in a you-are-there recap. “He’s a senior, a team leader, and when he called my name, I had to give him the ball.”

Moments later, Avery helped seal the deal by converting both ends of a one-and-one with 46.7 seconds to play.

“I wasn’t sure of anything until Brian Avery came dribbling out of the corner with seven seconds to go,” said West coach Mike Gurley. “Now here’s the hard part. There’s jubilation knowing you’re going to Chapel Hill. And within the next 24 hours I’ve got to pull a parking brake or something and get refocused. But right now, I’m gonna enjoy this for everything it is.”

Even if it wasn’t a work of art. “For us, it had to be ugly,” said Sizemore. “Ugly and low-scoring.”

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NOTES: West’s season remains one karat shy of perfection. A state championship game victory over Parkland (21-9) — an 81-78 winner over Greensboro Dudley in the Eastern Regional final — would make the Falcons Rowan’s first team to run the table. ... West made 14 of its 21 field goal attempts in the second half and converted 12 of 15 free throws in the fourth quarter. ... West never led in the first half and trailed 19-18 at the break. “We felt very fortunate,” said Minter. “The way we played, it easily could have been 29-18. We were terrible, but at least we were still in it.”