The Sweet 16 of the NCHSAA 3A State playoffs featured another regular season rematch for the Cowboys. This round it was the Cowboys hosting the Storm of Southern Guilford. These two Guilford County schools squared off in the Sheetz Holiday Christmas Classic Championship game on December 29th. The Cowboys pulled ahead, but the Storm never let the game get too far away. Every time Southwest seemed to be on the verge of breaking away, the Storm would surge back and keep the game within a couple lightning strikes. It was ultimately won by the Cowboys 84-68.
The #9 seeded Storm earned a berth in this round via wins over Alexander Central, and a slight upset over #8 seeded Hickory Thursday night. Southwest took care of business over Watauga as well as Conference foe Parkland. The Storm came into tonight’s contest having won 11 in a row. Could the Cowboys keep their perfect season alive?
These two teams battled it out in a back and forth affair. The Storm came out strong and stormed ahead 11-7 by the 5:20 mark. The Cowboys looked sloppy on both sides of the ball but started to chip away and reclaimed the lead at 15-12. But once again Southern took advantage of some poor play and surged ahead and closed the opening quarter leading 21-17.
After calmly regrouping, the Cowboys came out with a 7-0 run to go ahead 24-21 by the 6:40 mark. Southern responded with a spurt to tie things up at 24 at the 5:40 mark. After trading baskets twice it was 28 apiece. Southern got a stop and score and got up 30-28 with 3:45 to play. An 8-0 run by the Cowboys pushed the hosts ahead 36-30. From there the half closed with some more back and forth and it closed at 40-34.
A steal and dunk started the action for the Cowboys. Another stop and three pointer got the Cowboys up 45-34. The Storm refused to dissipate and fought valiantly. The Cowboys got enough stops and enough baskets to push the lead out to 62-47 at the close of the frame.
Another scoring blip by Southwest to open the final stanza pushed it out to 66-47, the second basket being a thunderous alley-oop dunk. The Storm responded with a monster slam of their own on the ensuing possession to stop the run at 66-49. The Cowboys then used a solid 10-2 run to push the margin to 78-54 with 3:50 to go. Southern kept battling, but in the end it was another team defensive effort for the Cowboys as they pulled away to win 88-59.
The Storm had a great season finishing at 23-5. They were led by Tyler Dearman with 21 points.
The Cowboys once again had a great team effort. Some highlights were: Kobe Langley with (24, 8 Asts, 7 Rebs, 3 Blks), Jayden Turner with (24, 5 Rebs, 3 Stls, 2 Asts, Blk), Christian Martin with (12, 5 Rebs, 2 Stls, Ast), Joel Pettiford with (11, 9 Rebs, 3 Blks) and Keyshaun Langley’s double double (10, 11 Asts, 3 Rebs, 2 Stls, Blk).
The Cowboys improve to a school record 29-0 and advance to the elite 8 for the 3rd time in the last 4 seasons.
1st 2nd 3rd 4th Final
Southern 21 13 13 12 59
Southwest 17 23 22 26 88
Southern (23-4)
Jimmy Cooper 9
TJ McMaster 7
Tyler Dearman 21
Julius Burch 15
Adnan Aurangzeb 5
Roman Johnson 2
Southwest (30-0)
Keyshaun Langley 10, 11 Asts, 3 Rebs, 2 Stls, Blk
Kobe Langley 24, 8 Asts, 7 Rebs, 3 Blks
Milli Huggins 4, 3 Rebs, 2 Asts
Cameron Thompson 3, Reb
Jayden Turner 24, 5 Rebs, 3 Stls, 2 Asts, Blk
Christian Martin 12, 5 Rebs, 2 Stls, Ast
Nysiek Walcott Reb
Joel Pettiford 11, 9 Rebs, 3 Blks
Miles Taylor 2 Rebs
Courtesy of Greg Vlazny, Southwest Guilford assistant basketball coach…
Three more to go for the Cowboys!!