Staff report

MOUNT ULLA — West Rowan boys basketball coach Mike Gurley registered his 400th win at the helm of the Falcons on Friday, and it was a big one.

West outscored South Iredell, 88-77, in North Piedmont Conference action to stay tied for first place with Carson.

West (9-7, 3-0)  got 35 points from senior Caleb Mauldin and has won five in a row. The streak started quietly with a victory in the seventh-place game in the Christmas tournament.

Gurley, who came to West from Lexington prior to the 1997-98 season, coached two undefeated state champions at West in 2001-02 and 2002-03, teams that went 61-0. He’s coached West to 10 conference regular-season championships, six conference tournament championships and six Christmas tournament championships. He broke the county record for boys  basketball coaching wins long ago. His record is 400-173. His winning percentage is .698.

Gurley also has coached the top six scorers in West boys history — Scooter Sherrill, Donte Minter, Keshun Sherrill, Mauldin, K.J. Sherrill and Jamel Carpenter.

Gurley’s career wins total, counting the 102 he logged at Lexington, is 502. He’s in his his 21st season at West, a record for longevity as far as coaching boys basketball in the county.

West had to overcome a sluggish start. The Falcons trailed, 19-11, after a quarter. West was down at halftime, 33-32.

In a wild second half, the Falcons put up 56 points to take charge.

The 88 points was, by far, West’s best offensive output of the season. Mauldin matched his season high. He also scored 35 against Central Cabarrus.

Martavio Rankin scored 17.  Payne Stolsworth had 13.

Ty Everhart led the Vikings (12-4, 2-1 NPC) with 20 points. Jaquan Clark scored 17.

S. IREDELL (77) — Everhart 20, Clark 17, Chabaan 12, Angle 12, Liechty 7, Dowdy 5, Hall 2, Dulin 1, Oglietti 1.

W. ROWAN (88) — Mauldin 35, Rankin 17,  Stolsworth 13,  Dixon 9, Myers 8, Joseph 6.

S. Iredell          19    14    21   23 — 77

W. Rowan        11    21   28    28 — 88