CHAPEL HILL — And now you know the “wrist” of the story.
West Rowan hoops coaches learned on Tuesday that Donte Minter’s injured left wrist was worse than just sprained — it was broken.
So naturally all the sensational senior southpaw did on Saturday night was go out and break the hearts of the opposition. The big guy carted home the MVP award, scoring 29 points to lead West to the 3A state championship at the Dean Smith Center.
In years to come, the Falcons’ 80-68 victory over a gallant Winston-Salem Parkland team that capped a perfect 30-0 season — the finest record ever posted by a Rowan County unit — will be remembered for many things.
For coach Mike Gurley’s relative calm during a couple of furious Parkland comeback tries.
For Junior Hairston’s 14 rebounds and momentum-turning shot-blocking. For Phillip Williams’ 9-for-10 shooting, his 22 points and his wonderful second-quarter spurt that changed the game.
For great decisions by Brian Avery and T.J. Gaither and for the great defense by guard Horatio Everhart that limited Parkland’s terrific star Ray Bristow to 7-for-20 shooting.
But mostly it’ll be remembered for Minter’s magic. Bad appendage and all, he shot 12-for-19 and made just one turnover with quick Parkland hands slapping at him from every angle.
“I blanked the pain out,” said Minter. “I just had to go out and play with it. It wasn’t as bad as last Saturday when I couldn’t shoot at all.”
“I’m not a doctor, I’m just a redneck basketball coach,” said the black-clad Gurley. “Donte broke his radial something or over. All I can tell you is that if you didn’t know it, I don’t think you could tell he was hurt.”
This game was the end of a long journey for Gurley and Minter. Their last game together wiped away all the unpleasant memories of West’s 101-83 1999 championship game loss to Parkland when Minter was still a chunky freshman.
“Donte and I have cried a lot of tears together since that game,” said Gurley. “But when you have a successful program like ours, you’re going to have some tough losses. Yeah, we’ve got some scars.”
There were only tears of joy this time, though, following a game so intense that even the gregarious Hairston was nearly rendered speechless in his postgame press conference.
The Falcons, who won every game by double digits this season, played a splendid game, shooting 48.4 percent from the field, canning 18 of 29 foul shots, and outrebounding the 21-10 Mustangs 51-38. Parkland made just five of 23 from 3-point range and shot just 32.4 percent from the field against solid Falcon D.
“West is just huge and their size really hurt us. They killed us on the boards,” said Parkland coach Mike Pennington. “A lot of that first half they had just one guard on the floor with all four big guys (including Jason Williams) and they were still athletic and fast.”
It was a game of runs. The Falcons had the most important one in the second quarter when Phillip Williams went crazy. West trailed 18-16 after a Bristow steal and layup, but then it roared out on a 20-4 blitz.
“I’m not saying it was a Duke-like run, but it was a West Rowan-like run,” said Gurley. “We’ve had a lot of those this year after teams played right with us in the first quarter.”
In that electrifying sequence, Williams, a 6-foot-6 junior, drilled a 3-pointer, fed Everhart for a 3-pointer, finished a pair of physical three-point plays inside and made a vicious slam of a rebound.
To be honest, it was a Phillip that West fans haven’t seen since the Christmas Tournament.
“Phillip’s been on hiatus for about a month,” said Gurley. “But he just let loose tonight.”
Williams didn’t look like a candidate for glory in the opening minute. He made two quick turnovers and already had a seat beside Gurley with West trailing 4-0. But that perfectly timed, flying flush of a missed jumper seemed to erase the butterflies. The quiet kid played lights out the rest of the way.
Dominating the boards 28-17 and getting 12 field goals in 15 attempts from Williams and Minter, West led comfortably 41-27 at halftime.
West’s lead swelled to 18 points in the first minute of the third quarter, but from that point it was a roller coaster of Parkland runs and West responses.
Parkland chopped the Falcons’ edge to 45-36 with a 9-0 rampage, but West got re-energized when Minter took a hard foul inside from Mustang Javon Scipio. By the end of a third quarter that was punctuated by a steal and jam by Minter, the Falcons led 56-39.
But Parkland didn’t get to this point by rolling over. It fought back.
A couple of 3s by shooter Mark Mason, who finally got untracked in the fourth quarter, knocked West’s lead down to 66-57 with 3:07 left. Then with 2:16 remaining, Bristow drove for a bucket to make it 68-60 and also drew the fifth foul on Minter.
Minter left to a standing ovation from the predominately West crowd, but his exit also gave a newly hopeful Parkland team, reason to cheer.
Still, the tightest it got was a six-point West lead when Mason nailed yet another 3-pointer to make it 73-67 with 1:06 showing on the clock.
“Finally, we were playing Parkland basketball, driving and kicking,” said Pennington.
But it was too little, too late. Even with Minter watching from the bench, the Falcons kept their composure.
Out of a timeout, Williams made two huge free throws for an eight-point lead. Then, after Mason missed a 3, Williams raced out of the pack and smashed home his fourth dunk of the contest for 77-67.
Then Gurley had an opportunity to high-five everyone in sight after Hairston soared for a rebound and converted a pair of free throws for a 79-67 lead.
West’s bench got in for the final 12.7 seconds so that 13 guys could savor playing an on-court role in a memorable win. The ball was in the hands of a surprised and jubilant Durrell White at the buzzer.
West’s four seniors — Minter, Avery, Everhart and Michael Johnson — accepted the plaque commemorating the school’s second title.
Gurley cited many motivations for this magnificent season, but said the primary one was retiring principal Henry Kluttz, whom the Falcons desperately wanted to sent out with one more title.
“Thirty-and-oh,” remarked Gurley with considerable satisfaction. “I don’t know if anyone will ever do that again.”
“Until next year,” quipped Hairston, who as usual, got in the last word.
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