Falcons Down Davie For Sam Moir Classic Title

BY DAVID SHAW
FOR THE SALISBURY POST

Anyone who thinks this is the most wonderful time of year probably spent the past two nights cheering for West Rowan's boys basketball team.

On Wednesday the Falcons completed an impressive two-game sweep in the Sam Moir Christmas Classic, dropping upstart Davie County in the championship game.

"It's an honor to win the tournament," second-year coach Mike Gurley said after top-seeded West earned an 85-69 win at Goodman Gymnasium. "It was fun to win the tournament. But really, after tonight it's all over. We've got conference play to think about."

The Falcons (10-0) did pause, at least momentarily, to reflect on their early-season accomplishment. They captured their first title since 1994 and seventh in school history. In addition, they challenged the championship-game scoring mark of 89 points set by Salisbury in 1991.

"We all knew what we were here for," explained senior forward Antwan House. "We hadn't won this thing in a while and it was our chance to break the jinx. A lot of guys went out there and gave their all."

Teammate Scooter Sherrill gave the most. The creative 6-3 junior tossed in 27 points, giving him 58 in the tournament, and walked off with the Most Valuable Player award.

"Scooter does a great job," said Gurley. "He works hard, he's quick, he's got great body control. But I liked the way the guys played around him tonight. Last year we would stand around and watch him play. Now they're playing with him and it's really helped us."

That was evident in the fourth quarter when Davie (10-2) got a driving layup from big man Jon Orsillo to pull within 67-63 with less than five minutes to play. "Everyone seems to play hard against us," said Sherrill. "We saw this team play (Tuesday) and knew we'd be in for a dogfight. But we weren't gonna let it get away."

Teammate Donte Minter ensured that, when he made a pivotal three-point play following a turnover midway through the final period. The well-muscled, 6-7 freshman received a fortunate bounce when his soft jumper from inside the lane dropped through. He was fouled on the play Ð and barely at that Ð by Davie's Duane Phillips, then converted the ensuing free throw to give the Falcons a seven-point lead. Over on the War Eagles' bench, head coach Jim Young screamed in disbelief.

"I thought (Phillips) stood straight up and never touched the kid," he said. "Then it bounced around for a half-hour and went in. It was a good shot on the kid's part. Then he went to the line and hit. There's a three-point swing plus the two we didn't get at the other end."

Gurley, a guy who has been around the mulberry bush once or twice, had witnessed this scenario before.

"More than any other sport, basketball is a game of runs," he said. "Football is a game of emotion but basketball is game of momentum and runs. I was just hoping that very soon we would stop their run. And I think Donte's play did that. It was a big turning-point basket."

The other significant factor centered around Phillips, Davie's explosive shooting guard. He led all scorers with 36 points but his final basket came with 5:20 remaining. "Duane's a great player but he's still an unknown around here," said Young, who has done yeoman's work resurrecting the War Eagles' program. "Some coaches are gonna start noticing him because he can flat-out play."

The War Eagles never drew closer than 10 points after Tommy Lee made a layup with 2:08 remaining. West padded its lead in the final 30 seconds when Brian Hatley and Terris Sifford sandwiched baskets around a pair of Sherrill free throws.

"Down the stretch we worked much harder as a team," said West's Josh Avery. "At crunch time we knew how to perform and how to finish them off."