Gallagher column: Roaming the county

Salisbury High School and East Lincoln. Photo by Jon C. Lakey, Salisbury Post.

Salisbury High School's Dominique Phillips (32) and Lexington High's Jerrett McCown (15). photo by Jon C. Lakey, Salisbury Post.

West Rowan's Kevin Parks (2) pass the ball as he jumps out of bounds as Northwest Cabarrus' Chris Lockridge (22) and Justin Seager (20) double team. Photo by Jon C. Lakey, Salisbury Post.

Roaming the county getting ready for tonight ...Mike Gurley once said that when a team makes the Western Regional, you know you've had a good season.

That means you have to win the sectional championship.

Three Rowan County coaches will be in that spot tonight when Gurley's West Rowan boys, Jason Causby's Salisbury boys and Andrew Mitchell's Salisbury girls play in sectional finals.

While Mitchell earned a trip to the regional last year on his way to a state championship, the two boys coaches want to reverse a recent trend.

Gurley, who has three state titles (two at West and one at Lexington), will lead the Falcons into their fifth straight sectional final. They are 0-for-their-last-four.

Causby is in his third straight. Salisbury lost to Starmount, led by current Virginia Tech center Victor Davila, two years ago and to East Lincoln last year.

"We just haven't gotten over that hump," Causby said.

The Hornets (18-5) get another shot when they go on the road to face Berry Academy (22-7) in Charlotte.

West (19-6) gets it chance at home against Anson County (19-9).

And Salisbury's 25-0 girls play at Winston-Salem Carver (22-4).

-

Causby was sky-high Thursday morning because one of his players went sky-high during a 91-78 win at East Rutherford on Tuesday.

Causby had challenged junior Darien Rankin before the game to outplay Devince Boykins, one of the state's top-rated juniors. Causby was told Boykins already had Division I offers, and North Carolina's Roy Williams had watched him practice. Causby put Rankin on Boykins.

"I told him, 'It's make or break for you.' " Causby said.

One play in the second quarter had people leaving the place talking about Salisbury's junior.

John Knox was on the left wing in a halfcourt set and kicked the ball to Rankin at the top of the key. He took one dribble down the lane and went up.

"It was like the Red Sea parting," Causby said. "Darien must have known what Moses felt like."

Rankin threw down one of those "Did-I-really-just-see-that?" kind of dunks.

"Four or five years ago, I jumped up and down on every basket," Causby chuckled, saying he's calmed that part of his coaching down. "But I couldn't help but jump up and down on that one."

In fact, when Causby awoke Thursday morning, he watched it on film again.

"I wanted to remember if I saw it right and it wasn't more than it was," he said.

It was everything he remembered.

"He took one bounce and leaned his left shoulder," Causby said.

And who was under the basket? Boykins.

"He didn't know whether to jump or get out of the way," Causby said.

As far as that Rankin vs. Boykins matchup?

Rankin: 33 points and a win. Boykins: 16 points and a loss.

-

Just as important to Salisbury's win was the job Dominique Phillips, Dejoun Jones and Knox did on Rob Gray, a highly touted sophomore guard. Gray still finished with 17 points, including one dunk, but he played with Hornets harassing him throughout.

"I hope we're playing our best basketball right now," Causby said.

Salisbury's ability to play so well on the road impressed East Rutherford coach Brad Levine.

"I think the sky is the limit," Levine said. "They can go deep in the regions. They're playing really, really good right now, and they're getting a lot of good leadership from a couple guys. When you know Rankin is their best player and he still has a good night, that's special."

Berry opened the playoffs with a 69-63 win against Thomasville, a CCC rival of Salisbury's.

-

It seems perfect that Causby and Gurley are on similar paths. Both had to wait what seemed like an eternity to get their football players on the court after deep runs in the pigskin playoffs.

No one, other than Gurley and his guys, thought the Falcons would be at this point.

"I told people from the beginning we're going to play hard and get after it," point guard K.P. Parks said.

A 56-46 win against Waddell on Wednesday was classic West Rowan. Parks scored only two points, but they were the biggest. His two free throws late in the game stopped a run that had pulled the Raiders within six.

Parks, the county's best assist man, had seven on the night.

Chris Smith, the future Arkansas defensive end, dominated inside with those Popeye arms, grabbing 10 rebounds and intimidating with his presence.

"Everybody says I'm not a scorer," Smith said. "But I know rebounding is important and I'm doing my part."

"He's a beast," Parks said.

Domonique Noble, Isaiah Cuthbertson, B.J. Sherrill and KaJuan Phillips played in-your-face defense, holding Waddell to 15 points in the first 16 minutes. Up 23-15 at the break, Gurley didn't make any impassioned pleas with his team.

"I didn't want to get them too hyped, too excited," he said. "I don't want these kids too tight. I want them to have fun."

They're definitely having fun, and that will continue tonight in front of what should be a packed house at West. Anson began the playoffs with a 21-point win against South Rowan.

"Win or lose," Gurley said, "these kids have given everything they've got every time they show up."

-

Not much to say about Salisbury's girls except that they'll be favored tonight.

In the wacky world of prep playoffs, priority seeding for certain conferences dictate where you play. Carver's league, the PAC-6, has priority over the CCC.

Carver has been on a roll since starting 1-3 with losses to R.J. Reynolds, Starmount and Parkland.

-

A final word about Carson's boys.

As of today, the Cougars are still the winningest team in Rowan County, finishing 21-6 after losing 79-66 in overtime to Concord on Wednesday. The Cougars waved goodbye to Darius Moose, Derrick Sewell and Brandon Ferrare as well as two other seniors.

"The guys walking out of the locker room right now, I couldn't be prouder of the effort they gave tonight," coach Brian Perry said.

"I said at the beginning of the season that I really hope that this season would be something that they can look back on and be proud of. As painful as this is right now, I hope they will look back at what steps they've taken from their freshmen season to today, in taking a team like this to the wire and really having an opportunity to win the game. Coming from when they started 3-21 as freshmen, I think it's pretty special and says a lot about all those seniors."

It also says a lot about Rowan basketball that three teams are still alive in the quest for a state title.

-

All games start at 7 p.m., and the one at West will be broadcast by the dynamic duo of Howard Platt and The Coach, Bob Parker, on WSTP 1490-AM.

Go to a game tonight, folks. And be nice.

-

Contact Ronnie Gallagher at 704-797-4287 or rgallagher@salisburypost.com.