Game Report on Southwest Guilford-Dudley Boys Basketball:SWG gets key contributions from a conglomerate of Cowboys, but Jayden Turner turns in a stellar performance with a team-high 16 points

SOUTHWEST GUILFORD 58, DUDLEY 57

The Cowboys hosted the Panthers of Dudley in a key conference clash tonight here at the Ranch.

The teams entered tonight’s tilt tied in the standings and both desperately need a win to have any chance to stay involved in the top seeds of the conference standings. Southwest managed to pull away for a solid road victory over these Panthers, but that was back in the second week of December.

Tonight’s battle was back and forth all night. The Panthers got on the board first and controlled the momentum for the opening frame. The Panthers were up 16-9 with 37 seconds to go, but a late basket before the horn cut the visitors lead to 16-11 after the first stanza.

The second frame was the opposite, this time with the hosting Cowboys scoring first, which set the tone for the frame. The pressure and tempo of the Cowboys wasn’t perfect, but it was just enough to hold the visitors scoreless for several droughts, which turned into a 29-22 advantage for Southwest at the half.

This back and forth war continued on this trend and the momentum switched back to the visiting Panthers a couple minutes into the frame. The Cowboys looked like they were going to pull away getting up 36-26, but a scoring drought of their own allowed the Panthers to take advantage of their mental mistakes as the third quarter closed with Southwest clinging to a narrow 40-38 lead.

The final frame was even uglier and sloppy than the rest. Once again the Cowboys looked like they were going to pull away by getting the game back out to 48-38 at the 5:48 mark. Dudley came storming back thanks in large part to several sloppy possessions by the hosts. The lead kept melting away like the snow outside has. Bad possessions, missed opportunities, and poor decisions and a pair of made free-throws by the Panthers gave them the lead at 57-56 with just 57 seconds to play. The Cowboys once again managed to turn the ball over with 41 seconds to play, but Dudley missed both free-throws on the other end. After advancing the ball to midcourt Southwest called a timeout with just 16 seconds to play. Out of the time out the Panthers deflected a pass out of bounds as Southwest attempted to execute a set with 9.8 to go. The Cowboys inbounded the ball and executed the offensive set for a tough lay-up and Joel Pettiford’s finish with less then a second to go gave the hosting Cowboys the dramatic home conference win at 58-57.

The Panthers were led by Kevon Wright with 13 points. Southwest was led by Jay’Den Turner with 16 points, 6 Rebounds, and 2 Steals.

              1st 2nd 3rd 4th Final
Dudley        16  06   16  19  57
Southwest     11  18   11  18  58

Dudley (11-8, 3-4)
Kevon Wright 13
Tim Boulware 10
Mahlik Lowe 7
Cam Thomas 11
Darrien Wynn 8
Isaiah Staton-Ray 2
Jvonte Hines 3
Taron Trotman 2

Southwest (13-5, 4-3)
Cam Thompson 2 Rebounds, 1 Assist
Milli Huggins 6 points
JT Butler 3 points, 4 Assists, 3 Steals
Cameron Kimber 2 points
Christian Martin 7 points, 7 Rebounds, 3 Blocks
Jayden Turner 16 points
Ty Radford 2 points
Jalen Snipes 2 points
Cooper Cunningham 6 points
Joel Pettiford 9 points, 4 rebounds
Naje McClendon 5 points, 5 rebounds
Collin Wilson 2 Assists

Courtesy of Southwest Guilford assistant coach Greg Vlazny