By Mike London
mlondon@salisburypost.com
MOUNT ULLA ó North Rowan senior guard Andre Blakeney didn’t score and barely played, but he’s the reason fans got their money’s worth Thursday.
“It was Andre that spoke up at halftime,” North coach Kelly Everhart explained. “He’s the one that said, ‘Let’s make something happen.’ ”
Something unbelievable nearly happened, but West Rowan recovered its poise and held off the Cavaliers 60-51. If North hadn’t been miserable at the foul line, where it was outscored 20-4, it could have pulled off one of the century’s most amazing comebacks.
North didn’t score the first seven minutes and didn’t make a field goal until D.J. Hipps hit a 3-pointer with 4:33 left in the second quarter.
West (2-0) is still missing its football players, but it has 6-foot-7 K.J. Sherrill, who had 23 points and 12 boards. It led 19-0 before Hipps finally hit a free throw to put the Cavaliers on the board. By then, even West fans sarcastically cheered the point.”We seem to have these spells where the ball just won’t go in the hole,” Everhart said.
North (0-5) needed three second-quarter 3s by Hipps to trail 31-15 at halftime.
“But the young Falcons are always going to make it interesting,” West coach Mike Gurley said with a sigh. “We got off to just a great start, but you can’t relax and start thinking those North guys aren’t going to play hard.”
North’s Lamonte Bell scored inside to open the half. Then Sherrill picked up his third foul and sat down. North’s Tristan Gill made a 3-pointer, and Bell scored twice in the paint. It was 31-24, and Sherrill was bounding to the scorer’s table.
“We were up 19 and thought it was ours,” Sherrill said. “But North came out fired up for the second half. They played hard, and they played great.”
Everhart calls Jesse Rudisell a defensive specialist, but the guard lit it up in the third quarter. His back-to-back 3s chopped West’s nine-point lead to 35-32, and reserve Hunter Feezor drew Sherrill’s fourth foul with 2:33 left in the period. An unconscious Rudisell then rainbowed another 3 that beat the third-quarter buzzer and made it 39-39.
When North’s Greg Sims put the Cavs ahead in the fourth quarter, Gurley had no choice but to turn to Sherrill with seven minutes left.
West actually went down 46-42 when Hipps made one of his five 3s with 4:30 remaining. Now it was the Falcons who had to reach deep.”We weren’t getting out on shooters, their shooters hit shots and there was a big ol’ snowball rolling toward Spencer,” Gurley said. “We had to change momentum, and to do that my guys had to stop feeling sorry for themselves and focus on defense. There was a lot of time left, and I was getting good eye contact from K.J. and Kaleb Kimber. They’re our experienced guys, and they led down the stretch.
Kimber had 10 points, mostly early, and eight boards, mostly late.
West tightened its defense and started looking for Sherrill on offense. He tied the game with four straight free throws, then put the Falcons ahead 48-46 on a flying tipin with 2:46 left on the clock.
West was clinging to a 48-47 lead when freshman Jordan Kimber (15 points) drove left from the top of the key and finished a terrific three-point play with 2:02 left.
That move put the Cavs on the ropes, and he knocked them out with a steal and two free throws.
“We just kept playing hard, and we made our free throws,” Sherrill said. “Kimber is a freshman, but he works. He’s a really good freshman.”
NORTH (51) ó Hipps 18, Rudisell 11, Bell 6, Sims 4, Gill 3, Fortson 2, Hicks 2, Overstreet 2, Feezor 1, Blakeney.
WEST (60) ó K.J. Sherrill 23, J. Kimber 15, K. Kimber 10, K. Sherrill 7, Cuthbertson 2, Huffman 2, Grant 1, Moore, Phillips.
N. Rowan 1 14 24 12 ó 51
W. Rowan 19 12 8 21 ó 60