West’s boys basketball team held off the Raiders 72-61 in a non-conference high school contest that saw the home team rally from 18 down at halftime to within five in the final period.

Protecting a 59-54 lead, the Falcons went back to a fullcourt pressure defense that had worked well in the first half, kept South from getting the ball past halfcourt for several consecutive possessions and went on a 10-0 run that wrapped up West’s third straight win without a loss.

Offensively, West got a combined 47 points out of sophomore center Donte Minter, who had a game-high 24, and senior guard Scooter Sherrill, who tallied 23.

“My father’s an electrician,” said coach Mike Gurley of West. “He taught me a long time ago that when you have power and turn it on, it works, and when you turn it off, it doesn’t work. That’s good for a light, but that’s not good for a defense. We shouldn’t be in that on-off sort of mentality. We’ve got to put pressure on people all the time if we want to do what we want to do, whatever we’re running. ... We’ve got to be wanting to play defense.”

It was a game of streaks for the Falcons, who went on a 17-0 second-quarter run after the Raiders had taken a 30-29 lead. It was 50-32 at halftime, but coach John Davis’ Raiders, now 1-3, weren’t ready to surrender on their home court.

“We had a little discussion at halftime, and they came out and responded to what we said at halftime,” said Davis, South’s first-year head coach. “I tip my hat to them, because they played hard,” he said of his players.

South had problems with Minter in the opening quarter, when the sophomore scored 14 points and pulled down five rebounds. He led the Falcons to a 25-17 lead after the first period.

Davis adjusted his defense after that, sagging in on Minter, and the Raiders battled back to take the 30-29 lead on a basket by Doug Daugherty.

The Falcons’ senior guard, Sherrill, then took over, scoring 10 points in the second quarter, and point guard Scooter Dalton knocked in a couple of 3-pointers.

“In the second quarter, I think we had a fundamental breakdown,” said Davis. “We got a little rattled and we didn’t do the things that we know we can do. ... When you have an excellent basketball team like they have, you can’t make those type of mistakes without contesting their shots. When you get a lot of layups and a lot of points off fast breaks, that’s the difference in the basketball game.”

South got big second-half efforts from forward Maurice Torrence (13 points, five rebounds) and center Damien Argrett (eight points, six boards) and battled back. Each player finished with 14 points.

“No. 31, Maurice Torrence: He’s got my vote for all-county, because he dominated us on the offensive glass,” said Gurley.

Torrence was 5-for-12 on field goals and 4-for-9 at the foul line. Most of his seven rebounds were offensive. Argrett was 6-for-10 and 2-for-2 with eight boards.

Daugherty and Drew King, South’s only consistent scorers in the first half, finished with 12 and 11 points, respectively.

For West, Minter didn’t touch the ball as much in the final three quarters as he did early in the game, but wound up an effective 11-for-15 inside plus 2-for-3 at the line. He had 10 rebounds.

“Donte’s a very good basketball player,” exclaimed Gurley. “I think as the year goes on, we’re going to see many different (defensive) variations in how to attack Donte. What we have to do as a team is be able to adjust when they do those things.”

Sherrill was 10-for-19 on field goals and 3-for-4 on free throws as he hit 20 or more points for the third straight game. The senior, who has signed with N.C. State, added five assists, four steals and six rebounds.

“I thought our guys did enough to win,” said Gurley. “I think we got some early performance from Donte Minter, which was very pleasing.”

He emphasized, however, that West, 28-3 last year and the state 3A runner-up, is still developing.

“We’re going to go through some hard stretches, because what we’re attempting to do is develop as a team. ... But we’ve just got to get better at some things, and I think these kids will,” he said.

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NOTES: West was 31-for-66 (47 percent) on field goals after a 56.7 percent first half and only 8-for-19 at the foul line. South finished 25-for-59 (42.4 percent) from the floor and 9-for-18 at the foul line. ... The Falcons outrebounded South 38-30 and had 19 turnovers to 25 for the Raiders. ... West opens its South Piedmont Conference schedule at Harding on Friday

WEST ROWAN (72) —Williams 6, Sifford 4, Minter 24, Sherrill 23, Dalton 7, Everhart 1, Mattox 2, Diggs 4, Mauldin, Barringer, White 1, Goodnight, Trosper.

SOUTHROWAN (61) — King 11, Torrence 14, Argrett 14, Kennedy 2, Girty 3, Diggs 4, Daugherty 12, Beck 1, Faggart, Cook, Childers.

West Rowan 25 25 9 13 — 72