By Mike London
mlondon@salisburypost.com
GRANITE QUARRY ó Turnovers, rebounding and the head coach’s beards were surprisingly even, but West Rowan has a 6-foot-7 guy who can play and East Rowan doesn’t.
Charlotte signee K.J. Sherrill’s 20 points, nine rebounds and six blocks made the difference for the Falcons in a 59-43 NPC victory in East’s gym on Friday.
K.J.’s brother, Keshun, a freshman, was the second-best Falcon. He scored nine efficient points off the bench.
West has dominated the long series 71-29, including a 15-year winning streak between 1988-89 and 2003-04, but the Mustangs had won eight of the last 11 overall and the last three in Granite Quarry. Sherrill dunked that streak with authority, but it wasn’t a walk in the park.
“I guess some of us looked at East’s record and started thinking that maybe it would be an easy game,” Sherrill said. “But we always have to fight here.”
West coach Mike Gurley, who unveiled a dark goatee that was the twin of East coach Greg McKenzie’s familiar look, quipped that his team produced “more unforced errors than the Australian Open.”
West (12-2, 8-1) didn’t show the relentless ferocity it displayed in recent blowouts of Carson and North Iredell, couldn’t make a free throw in the first half and struggled to solve East’s 1-3-1 zone.
“We wanted to come out, play with some confidence, be aggressive and believe we could win the ballgame,” McKenzie said. “We accomplished that. We learned we could play with a very good team if we stick together.”
East (5-9, 4-6) played without injured Brian Grohman who may miss the rest of the season with a knee injury, but it got 12 points and eight rebounds from Daniel Plummer, 10 points from Phillip Ajayi and solid minutes from Caleb Allen, Will Mancil and Riley Weber.
East shut out Sherrill in the first quarter and led 12-6 before Myles Moore hit two 3s and Jordan Kimber hit another to give the Falcons a 15-12 lead after a quarter.
“Greg did a great job of disguising his defenses,” Gurley said. “His kids executed and forced us into some bad decisions.”
K.J. Sherrill got untracked for nine points in the second quarter.
The half ended with West leading only 30-25, but it closed with a nasty sequence for East ó Plummer’s third foul and a crushing dunk of a loose ball and another powerful stickback by Sherrill.
“Their 1-3-1 surprised us some at the start,” Sherrill said. “But I stepped outside and started getting the ball in the gaps. Our guards started penetrating better. That opened things up.”
Chris Smith fueled West’s best burst of defensive energy in the early stages of the second half, and Keshun Sherrill supplied seven third-quarter points as the Falcons pushed their lead to double digits.
“Our defense kept us in the game a long time,” Plummer said. “But then we started getting tired and had a lot of turnovers. We missed Grohman, and we’re really going to miss him a lot. He’s the guy we looked to in the paint for big rebounds and easy baskets.”
Both teams committed eight turnovers in a sloppy third quarter that had McKenzie calling timeouts and Gurley frantically pleading with his team for more focus.
“I think what happened was the longer we stayed in it, the more we tried to force the hard plays instead of just making the easy plays,” McKenzie said. “You can’t do that against a team as good as West.”
The final eight minutes passed with both teams treading water. East, which shot only four free throws in the game, couldn’t make a move. West couldn’t turn it into a satisfying runaway despite numerous, trapping steals.
There was little emotion or excitement down the stretch in contrast to most recent games in the series. Four previous McKenzie-Gurley coaching matchups had come down to the final possession.
WEST ROWAN (59) ó K.J. Sherrill 20, J. Kimber 10, K. Sherrill 9, K. Kimber 8, Moore 7, Smith 2, Grant 2, Crucitti 1, B.J. Sherrill, Huffman, Gore, Noble, Phifer. EAST rowan (43) ó Plummer 12, Ajayi 10, Allen 9, Weber 6, McKenzie 2, Mancil 2, Honeycutt 2, Torrence, Moore.
W. Rowan 15 15 18 11 ó 59
E. Rowan 12 13 12 6 ó 43