By Mike London
mlondon@salisburypost.com
MOUNT ULLA ó West Rowan’s K.J. Sherrill scored on a stickback and still changed ends so swiftly he took a charge when Lake Norman tried to push the ball.
Aggressive as a pitbull pursuing a T-bone, the 6-foot-7 Sherrill was everywhere Wednesday in one of the great performances of a great career. His 28 points, 16 boards and five blocks devastated previously unbeaten Lake Norman 70-47 and tightened the NPC race.
“I wanted to be aggressive, but I also wanted to play smart,” the Charlotte signee said. “As a team we brought a lot of energy on defense.”
West (13-2, 9-1) lost at Lake Norman 71-68 in a game in which foul trouble limited Sherrill to nine points.
West coach Mike Gurley said it was easy motivating Sherrill for the rematch.
“There were a lot of coaching comments all week,” Gurley said. “We’d tell K.J., ‘Hey, remember when we did this in the second quarter at Lake Norman. Oh, that’s right, you weren’t in there the second quarter at Lake Norman.’ ”
Sherrill was there this time. He had 20 points in the second half as the Falcons shoved back the Wildcats’ desperate attempts to rally.
West threw its best collective defense of the season at the Wildcats (15-1, 10-1) and closing the first half with a furious 9-0 run, capped by a 3-pointer by Myles Moore.
“The key was defense,” West senior Kaleb Kimber said. “That was the focus last week and this week.”
And probably next week.
When Gurley returned from his halftime chat he was munching stoically on a banana, and he had the satisfaction of gazing at a scoreboard that showed the third-ranked Wildcats had been shut down. Studs Paul Larsen and Reggie Price hadn’t scratched, Lake Norman was 5-for-29 in the first half, and West led 22-11.
“Our defense was excellent throughout,” Gurley said. “We did what we wanted to do, and that was make them play against us 5-on-5 instead of 4-on-3 or 3-on-2. We eliminated their breakouts.”
Keshun Sherrill, Jason Grant, Jordan Kimber and Kaleb Kimber (15 points) did the job on the perimeter, and K.J. Sherrill and muscleman Chris Smith altered shots and led the Falcons to 38-23 domination on the glass.
“K.J. was very focused on moving his feet and staying out of foul trouble,” Gurley said. “He and Chris made Lake Norman guys shoot over them instead of letting them slip by.”
Lake Norman got a terrific effort from Kevin Canevari, a pass-first point guard who was forced to score 16 points because no one else was producing.
West led 46-28 after three quarters, but Price got hot and made things interesting. He drilled four straight shots, including three 3s, as the Wildcats charged within 48-39 with 6:12 remaining.
But Lake Norman failed to capture a key rebound, and a huge three-point play by Sherrill and a strong drive by Grant stopped the comeback.
It was all over with two minutes left after Crucitti made a layup, then sprinted like the Bionic Man to the other end and emulated K.J. Sherrill by taking a charge.
“K.J. was just a pleasure to watch,” Crucitti said. “When a 6-7 guy is out there taking charges, it’s pretty easy for all of his teammates to go hard. We were flat at East Rowan Friday, and Coach was upset with us. But we played tonight with heart and pride. This was West Rowan basketball for 32 minutes.”
B.J. Sherrill also took a charge for the Falcons, who proved they could rise to the challenge of a big game.
“We didn’t show up the first half, West was the complete aggressor, and you have to hand it to them,” Lake Norman coach Brandon Jolly said. “K.J. is good at blocking shots, but the game at our place we took it right at him and got him in foul trouble. This time, it looked like we were scared to death of him.”
lake norman (47) ó Canevari 16, Price 15, Larsen 7, Denyes 3, Albritton 2, Eller 2, H. Smith 2, Whalen. west rowan (70) ó K.J. Sherrill 28, K. Kimber 15, J. Kimber 6, Grant 6, K. Sherrill 5, Moore 5, Crucitti 3, C. Smith 2, Noble, B.J. Sherrill.
L. Norman 5 6 17 19 ó 47
W. Rowan 7 15 24 24 ó 70