Game Report on Smith-Southwest Guilford Boys Basketball:Smith takes down the SWG Cowboys in OT Gilbert leads Smith, and Carmack helps carry Cowboys

The Cowboys hosted the Golden Eagles of Smith High School tonight in a Piedmont Triad 3A Conference tilt.

The Cowboys came out of the gate strong and built a solid lead. The Eagles recovered with a small spurt to close the opening stanza out and make the score 13-7 in favor of Southwest.

The Eagles continued that momentum and controlled the second frame. It was a back and forth battle with the Eagles maintaining a slight edge throughout. The halftime score had Smith up 22-19.

The war continued on in the third frame. Each time the Eagles tried to extend the lead, the Cowboys would fight back into it. The back and forth this time had a slight slant towards the Cowboys as they closed the frame out strong to cut the deficit to 40-39 headed into the fourth.

The fourth quarter turned into quite the action. The Eagles size truly began to show as they built the lead to 51-43 at the officials’ timeout at 3:58 to play. The Cowboys regrouped and showed tremendous heart and forced several turnovers. Timely baskets and a couple of missed free-throws by the Eagles allowed the Cowboys to tie the game up with under a minute to play. After nearly forcing yet another turnover, the Cowboys forced a timeout called by the Eagles. After the timeout the Cowboys did force a turnover and a timeout was called with under 20 seconds to play. The Cowboys couldn’t manage to win it on the final possession, so that meant extra basketball.

Both teams traded empty trips to start the overtime period. The first points of the extra time were scored from the free-throw line on a called foul on a jump shot. With that, the Eagles claimed the lead 54-51. The Cowboys couldn’t match and the Eagles took advantage of a costly turnover and got up 56-51. A made three pointer by the Cowboys cut it to 56-54, but that was as close as they could get it.The Eagles managed to hit just enough free-throws and a lid was on the basket for the home team, as several good looks at the basket just would not fall. The Cowboys drop a tough one in overtime to a very solid Smith team.

The Eagles were led by Markquan Gilbert with 14 points. The Cowboys were paced by Claude Cormack with 16 points, 4 Assists and 3 Rebs. The Cowboys will look to rebound on Tuesday night as they square off against the Hornets of Western Guilford.

                1st 2nd 3rd 4th  OT    Final
Smith           07  15  18   11  09    60
Southwest       13  06  20   12  03    54

Smith (5-1, 2-0)
Braylon Collins 13
Joshua Hughes 2
Xavier Partee 11
NayShaun Hale 5
Nyikos Fritts 7
Markquan Gilbert 14
Maurice Hines 8

Southwest (4-2, 1-1)
Amarya Huggins 3, 4 Stls, 2 Asts, Reb
Claude Cormack 16, 4 Asts, 3 Rebs
Isaiah Smith Stl
DeAnthony Butchee 8, 2 Asts, 2 Stls, 2 Rebs
Noah Goldston 3,
Stevon Harrison 8, 6 Rebs, 2 Stls
Troy Scarborough 6, 3 Rebs, 3 Stls
Mason Drabik 2, 2 Rebs
Henry Giant 6, 6 Rebs, Ast
Alston Harrison 2, 2 Rebs

Courtesy of Southwest Guilford head boys basketball coach, Greg Vlazny