Prep Basketball: Concord boys 78, West Rowan 53

By Jordan Honeycutt

sports@salisburypost.com

CONCORD — Special. That was the one word, Concord coach Scott Brewer used to sum up his team’s performance after a 78-53 victory over West Rowan Wednesday.

Falcon coach Mike Gurley echoed those sentiments about his opponents.

“I thought our kids fought and gave their all but they are so skilled with ballhandling and scoring, and on top of that, they make great decisions,” Gurley said.

“We really got beat up on the glass, also. I don’t know how many second and third chances they got but it was too many.”

West Rowan star Keshun Sherrill was the only Falcon in double figures with 18 hard earned points.

Sherrill was harassed all night as he was the focal point of the Spider defense.

“I knew that I would be their main focus and I tried to get all of the other guys involved a lot tonight,” Sherrill said. “We just didn’t bend our legs enough on defense and definitely didn’t execute the way we would have liked to.”

Sharpshooter Seth Martin (eight points) and big men Travis Morgan (six) and Maurice Warren (also with six) were the main support for Sherrill.

Where West was top-heavy in scoring–– Concord had balance. Point guard Darren Black led the way with 22 points, Connor Burchfield had 21 and Navy signee Kendall Knorr added 13.

However, the balance wasn’t the most impressive thing about West’s foe –– that would be the chemistry and basketball I.Q. displayed by the home team.

“Our team’s mantra is to play together and be smart,” Brewer said.

“It helps that our team’s cumulative GPA is 3.6 and I think that helps them to execute and know what to do out there.”

The two coaches, who are also great friends, gave the capacity crowd some pregame entertainment as well.

At halftime of the girls game, Gurley and Brewer each grabbed push brooms and swept the gym floor in what seemed to be a “good- luck-to-you” gesture.

“Any time that you beat a Mike Gurley-coached team, you know that you beat one of the best coaches in the state and I have so much respect for him and for West Rowan,” Brewer said.

Gurley was quick to give credit where it was due as well.

“We have to credit them and what they did against us tonight,” he said. “It worked and my hope is that this toughens us up a bit going into the last stretch of the season and in the playoffs.”

The victory for Concord was noteworthy as it tied the school record at 20 straight wins and now looks to break it against Mt. Pleasant.

“Like I said, these kids are special and they have a chance to have a REAL special moment later on this season,” Brewer said.

CONCORD (78) — Black 22, Burchfield 21, Knorr 13, Burk 6, Aube 5, Prutte 5, Beecher 4, Williams 4, Rollins.

WEST ROWAN (53) — Sherrill 18, Martin 8, T. Morgan 6, Warren 6, Reddick 5, J. Morgan 4, Tucker 4, Cuthbertson 2, Gallagher, Hassard.

W. Rowan 16 12 12 13 — 53

Concord 25 15 17 21 — 78