GRANITEQUARRY — The surprise attack on Pearl Harbor 48 years ago was only slightly
more stunning than the first half of Tuesday night’s East Rowan-West Rowan boys
basketball game.West’s
superior size, quickness and talent eventually produced a 69-50 3A South Piedmont
Conference victory — the Falcons’ 25th straight over the Mustangs — but it
was first-half role reversals that still had people buzzing in the hallways after the
game.
East, which has not beaten the
Falcons since the 1988-89 season, actually led West, one of the state’s top teams,
30-26 after two quarters.
There were several reasons.
First, West played without
6-foot-7 Donte Minter. Minter, who averages 17.3 ppg and a ton of rebounds, was ill. That
helped undersized East (1-4 overall, 1-2 SPC) survive on the backboards.
Second, West had to be looking
ahead to tonight’s trip to the North Rowan gym — a matchup that is currently the
county’s top boys rivalry. West found a high level of intensity in the second half,
but that trademark Falcon defensive fury was absent in the first half.
Third, there was East forward
Taylor Weber, who hit his team’s first four field goals — two of them 3-pointers
— and forced a home crowd which had been almost afraid to look (East had lost its
previous six games to West by anywhere from 31 to 69 points ) — stand up and cheer.
“Taylor finished strong in
our win down at Piedmont last Friday,” said East coach Mark Flynn. “It carried
over.”
“You have to give the credit
for they way this one started to East,” said West coachMike Gurley. “Weber came
out making all kinds of shots and there’s nothing like making shots to get
everyone’s confidence up. (Justin)Miller and (Adam)Cornelius fed off Weber and shot
well, too.”
East led by a stunning 12-1 at one
point and by six at the end of the first quarter.
“The first half was the best
we’ve played this year,” said East coach Mark Flynn. “The key was our
defensive rebounding.”
Down 23-13 midway through the
second quarter, the Falcons rode a spree by Terris Sifford to get back in the game.
Sifford made three jumpers, scored on an offensive rebound, took a charge, made two steals
and fed Scooter Sherrill for a resounding dunk to pull the Falcons within four at the
break.
“Sifford is a hard-nosed
player,” said Gurley. “Terris always comes to play.”
“My defense is still my
offense,” said Sifford. “Defense is the key for me. It’s what I bring to
this team. Defense is what I’m really pursuing.”
All the Falcons pursued a little
defense after intermission — after getting some strong words of wisdom from Gurley in
the locker room.
West (5-0, 2-0) used its
rejuvenated defensive pressure to spurt 12-0 early in the second half, a burst that was
aided when East point guard Justin Miller picked up his fourth foul and had to sit down.
Post man Frankie Williams started
the decisive burst with a jumper. Then at the 5:41 mark, Sherrill split two defenders for
a three-point play to put West ahead for the first time at 33-32.
Then it was rapid-fire. Williams
made a 3-point play, point guard Scooter Dalton and Sherrill scored four points each and
Sifford was on target with yet another jumper. Suddenly, the Falcons led 44-34.
East’s only four points
during the first five minutes of the third quarter came on off-balance drives by Miller
and Mark Misenheimer. Getting no good shots and sensing things getting away, Flynn called
timeout.
But momentum now wore blue.
“If you’re not playing
them, West is a whole lot of fun to watch,” Flynn said. “They don’t have
any slouches out there. Plus, we started to wear down in the second half. We made mistakes
and when you make’em against West they turn them into points. They capitalize in a
big hurry.”
The death blow for East came when
reserve Horatio Everhart connected on a long 3 at the third-quarter buzzer. That bomb put
West up 51-39.
“That may have been that nail
we talk about,”said Gurley. “It was a big shot for us and for Horatio’s
confidence.”
Sherrill scored 10 of his
game-high 28 points down the stretch, making six straight free throws and a couple of
acrobatic fallaways as West breezed away from the exhausted Mustangs.
East never got closer than 10 in
the fourth quarter, but that amazing first half left Flynn feeling like he’d won. If
not in the standings, at least in the hearts and minds of Mustang fans.
“Everyone knows how good West
is,” said Flynn. “But we didn’t back down. Tonight, we competed as hard as
we possibly could have.”
“We know everyone expected a
blowout by 60 points,” said Weber. “But we had high hopes of winning. We played
together and led the best team in the state at halftime. That shows what we can do.”
n
NOTES: Weber led East with 14
points. Miller hit two 3s and scored 10. ... Sifford scored 13 points to support Sherrill.
... Gurley lauded Williams and Dalton in his postgame comments and also had positive
things to say about East. “It’s too bad that people ignore the East boys a lot
of the time,” said Gurley. “No one works harder or does a better job than Flynn.
His kids played a wonderful game tonight.”
WEST ROWAN (69) — Sherrill
28, Williams 9, Dalton 4, Sifford 13, Barringer 3, Everhart 5, White 2, Trosper 2, Diggs,
Mattox, Mauldin 3, Goodnight.
EAST ROWAN (50)— Miller 10,
Cornelius 9, Shepherd 1, Gill 3, Weber 14, Misenheimer 6, Rusher 2, Ledbetter 3, Sides 2,
Martinez, Hollifield.
West Rowan 6 20 25 18 — 69
East Rowan 12 18 9 11 — 50 |
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