Mike Gurley Quotations

I thought (Cuthbertson) was the energy that got us going in the fourth quarter.

Usually when our guys go up to shoot, they either make it or miss it, but they're all alone up there. Venable contested so many shots. I was very impressed with his spring.

We did those things. Of course, if you do those three things, you'll beat a lot of teams, not just East.

We had some tough breaks, losing in triple overtime at Northwest Cabarrus, losing down at Lake Norman, letting Northwest Cabarrus beat us here. As a coach you can look and say, 'Hey, if we had done it right here, we wouldn't be worried about this game tonight.' We didn't get it done on those nights, but we got it done tonight.

This team sort of rides my attitude, and if I'm ornery, they get nervous, and if I get frustrated, they get frustrated. So I was very focused tonight on just playing this game together and having fun. I didn't do any wonderful coaching other than letting my team play.

Wes is under the microscope more than any of our guys because we seem to play as he plays. I thought he gave us complete focus in the finals. Even when he got in foul trouble, he came to the bench and kept his focus.

We did a good job of not going for fakes. And Turner had some massive, high-elevating, snatch-it-down rebounds.

Corey gives us a nasty post rotation with K.J. Sherrill and Wesley Turner. He's one of those guys that talks on the bench and communicates on the floor.

Thank God Mooresville's got that soft rim. I noticed it all night. That thing kind of hit the front and kind of looked like a putt at the end where you think it's dead and then it just kind of drops.

That took a lot out of us. That was the heart and soul of what we try to do. We showed a lot of character and a lot of poise, but we've just got to get better.

It's like right after lunch, after you've had a 12-inch sub, eaten your chips and had your drink. We settled in and said, 'Let's go and get this building done today.' We did a good job of being workmanlike.

It was a competitive atmosphere ? that's for sure. Give Northwest credit. We had our chances, but they always seemed to run a dagger into us to make sure the game wasn't over.

They wanted it more. I know they won the battle of the boards. I know they won the battle of 50-50 balls. They played harder, longer and more efficiently.

I'm a sentimental guy by nature. But no tears this time, because I'm proud of this group of seniors. They had to carry the torch from our 61-0 teams, and they went through rough times. But they wanted to put a banner on the wall (for this season's NPC championship), and they did get one.