MT. ULLA — Kannapolis held West Rowan star Scooter Sherrill to his lowest point total
in 34 games on Tuesday night.But even with Sherrill scoring just 14, his fellow Falcons were able to
pull out of a first-half funk in plenty of time to pound the Wonders 66-42 in a South
Piedmont Conference game at the West gym.
Kannapolis was also the opponent
more than a year ago when Sherrill was limited to 13 points. The Wonders bothered and
banged Sherrill last night the same way they did in the game early last season — with
a box-and-one defense.
Wonder coach Shelwyn Klutz had
5-foot-10 guard Ryan Craft play right in the 6-4 Sherrill’s chest — with the
other four men helping out. Or he had 5-6 Deangelo Collins playing right at Scooter’s
waist and getting lots of help from his teammates.
“I’ve gotta give credit
to Craft and Collins,” said Klutz. “They played hard and did a nice job. Still,
Scooter’s going to get his points. You just can’t keep him off the foul
line.”
Sherrill got 10 of his points at
the stripe. He was held to 2-for-8 shooting from the field and didn’t score from the
floor until he tipped in a missed shot early in the fourth quarter.
West coach Mike Gurley wasn’t
pleased with the way his team attacked the Wonder box-and-one.
“That’s part my
fault,” he said. “We haven’t practiced against it, although we know
we’ll see it some. We were making stuff up on the fly.
“We didn’t do a good job
at all of getting into our offense. Scooter wasn’t the only one having a hard time. A
lot of our guys didn’t have great nights.”
West did struggle mightily,
shooting 31 percent for the game. One night after having their doors blown off in a couple
of minutes by North Rowan, Kannapolis (1-5, 1-3) actually had West (8-0, 4-0) down 26-24
at halftime.
“We were better
tonight,” said Klutz. “Our kids were embarrassed by the way they played at North
(27-5 after one quarter) and we knew it would be double the trouble if we didn’t show
up for West.”
Klutz said the Wonders, who were
likely as surprised by their spirited performance as anyone in the West gym, came to the
locker room celebrating.
“They were looking at it as a
victory,” Klutz said. “I told them there was a long way to go.”
In the adjacent locker room, the
Falcons were doing some soul-searching.
“I don’t like excuses,
but I keep trying to find reasons why we don’t just come out ready to play every
night,” sighed Gurley, more disappointed than angry. “We’ve got a talented
group of great kids, but we’re just not concentrating for full basketball games
— not for 32 minutes. Concentration doesn’t guarantee wins, but it definitely
gives you your best opportunity to win.”
West “got its mind
right” in the second half and once the Falcons focused and made the commitment to
play ferocious defense, the game was over in a matter of minutes. Kannapolis turned the
ball over four times in the first minute of the third quarter as West went on a 13-0 run
right out of the locker room. While the Falcons were scoring those 13 points, the Wonders
got off only one shot.
“We knew we had to pick
things up,” said West big man Donte Minter. “Our defense got us going. It got
our confidence back and took away theirs.”
The catalyst for the Falcons’
impressive run was guard Scooter Dalton, who brings an unusual mix of brains and brawn to
the floor. Dalton decided at halftime that he would get every rebound, and there
wasn’t much the Wonders could do to stop him.
His rebound bucket tied the game
at 26-all and his free throws after another offensive rebound put West ahead to stay at
28-26, 90 seconds into the second half.
Dalton finished with 10 rebounds
and eight points, but his contributions were infinitely greater than his boxscore line.
“He ran the show,” said
Gurley. “He hit the boards and cut down our turnovers. He was the steadying
influence.”
After Dalton’s spark, Minter
took over on the inside.The towering soph finished with 15 points and 12 rebounds.
“Minter was just
awesome,” said Klutz. “We had no answers for him. He’s just a lot more
athletic than any of our big guys.”
Reserve Brandon White, rapidly
becoming a crowd favorite, finished the Wonders off by making three straight buckets to
end the third quarter. The 6-8 White had eight points, six rebounds, four blocks and three
steals.
“The great thing about
Brandon,” said Gurley, “is that he always plays hard. He gave us one heck of a
boost.”
The third quarter, after which
West led 46-29, was a train wreck for the Wonders, who were outscored a brutal 22-3.
Kannapolis shot 1-for-10 and corralled only three rebounds in eight minutes.
The teams played out the string in
the fourth quarter, with the only remaining suspense involving whether or not Sherrill,
who needs only 40 points to reach 2,000 for his career, would keep alive his amazing
string of double-figure games. He did.
The best thing about
Sherrill’s night came with 2:39 left and the game in hand. West had a 2-on-1 break
and Sherrill, who could have easily scored himself if he cared about the points, gave the
ball up to Minter for an easy deuce.
That’s why Gurley likes this
team so much. It’s also why Gurley desperately wants this team to play as brilliantly
for full games as it does in spurts.
“We just need passion,”
said Gurley. “All the time.”
KANNAPOLIS(42)— Henry 1,
Brown 7, Allison 11, Barrier 6, Porter 2, Craft, Clowney 3, Blakeney 5, Gibson, Collins 1,
Everidge, McCrae 4, Jordan 2.
WEST(66) — Sherrill 14,
Minter 15, Williams 4, Sifford 6, Everhart 4, Dalton 8, White 8, Mauldin, Mattox 1,
Barringer, Diggs 3, Trosper, Goodnight 3.
Kannapolis 11 15 3 13 — 42
West 12 12 22 20 — 66 |
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