Game Report on Southwest Guilford-Page Boys Basketball:Huggins’ Buzzer-Beater Three gives SWG Cowboys the win in an “Epic Battle” at ‘The Mac’

from the Mac Morris Gym/’The Mac’ on the Page High School campus:

The Cowboys hit the road for a late season non-conference clash with the Pirates of Page High School. The Cowboys swept both matchups last season, with one of them being a convincing 84-58 victory in the 3rd round of the NCHSAA playoffs. The Pirates are coming off of a tough loss at home to conference foe Grimsley, while the Cowboys managed a home conference win on Tuesday night. It turned into quite the battle.

The opening frame was back-and-forth until a 6- 0 run by the Cowboys got the lead up to 12–4 at the 4:41 mark in the frame. The Pirates responded with a 5-0 run to battle it down to 12-9. Page didn’t stop there, as they held momentum and slimmed the margin at the close of the quarter to 16-14.

The Pirates tied the game up on the opening possession of the frame. The rest of the frame the teams traded runs and spurts of inefficiency. Page took the lead midway through and held the lead, with it peaking at 31-26 with under 30 seconds to go in the half. The Cowboys quickly answered with a deep three before the buzzer and it was 31-29 going into the break with the hosts on top.

The trend continued as the lead changed 7 times in the third frame alone, but there was just a little bit more Southwest as thy held a slim 45-44 lead at quarter end.

The final stanza was an epic battle. With just as many lead changes and momentum swings. 7 lead changes and 5 ties in this physical war boiled down to an intense final minute. Southwest held a slim 61-59 lead with 1:09 left. Page managed to hit 1 free throw to cut it 61-60 with 46.9 to go. A missed shot for the Cowboys, and another foul on Southwest gave Page 2 more freebies. The Pirate only made one, but it tied the game at 61-61 with 35.3 to go. The Cowboys brought the ball up court and called timeout with 30.7 seconds to play. A well executed set gave the Cowboys the lead at 63-61 with 18.9 on the clock. Page worked the ball around and slipped past the defense for a layup with 9.2 to play. The Cowboys ran the ball up the court and spun back as Milli Huggins walked straight into an open shot and he nailed the 3 pointer and the buzzer sounded with the Cowboys winning 66-63 in another dramatic finish.

Jahlen King led Page with 17 points. The Cowboys were paced by; Christian Martin with (17 points, 8 Rebs), Jay’den Turner with (17 points, 3 Rebs), and Milli Huggins with (16 points, 8 Rebs, 6 Asts).

               1st 2nd 3rd  4th  Final
Page           14  17   19  13   63
Southwest      16  13   16  21   66

Page (10-8, 1-2)
Elijah Short 14
Trent McIntyre 14
Jahlen King 17
Alex Angus 4
Jamarii Thomas 4
Terrell Davis 10

Southwest (14-5, 4-3)
Milli Huggins 16 points
JT Butler 5 points, 6 Assists, 5 Rebounds
Jamell Carter 4 points
Christian Martin 17 points
Jayden Turner 17 points
Cooper Cunningham 3 points

Courtesy of Greg Vlazny, SWG assistant coach….