The Cowboys hosted the Spartans of Mount Tabor in a marquee Piedmont Triad 3A Conference match-up.
Southwest came into tonight’s contest off of a solid win over Parkland. Tabor is coming in on a 2 game slide, and wanted to knock off the unbeaten Cowboys. Mount Tabor knocked off the Cowboys in the Conference tournament last season, so the Cowboys had a bitter taste that they wanted to take care of.
The game opened up with both teams trading blow for blow and it was tied 5-5 at the 5:46 mark. From there, both teams seemed to agree to get loose and sloppy with the ball, as well as shoot very poorly from the field. Even with the discombobulation, the Cowboys managed a 6-0 spurt to go up 11-5 at the 4:07 point. Tabor took advantage of some poor play by the hosts and cut it to 11-10. The Cowboys closed the frame out with a 4-0 blip and it was 15-10 at the end of the ugly opening quarter.
The second stanza was a similar story of poor shooting and uncharacteristic play by Southwest. The Spartans scored first to make it 15-12. Yet another 5-0 blip and it was 20-12. Southwest couldn’t manage to keep any traction for long, and the Spartans did just enough to keep the ball game a contest. They cut it to 20-17 with 1:10 to play in the half. The final seventy seconds were helter-skelter, but somehow the Cowboys outscored the visitors 10-4 in a chaotically sloppy ending to the half with the score ending at 30-21.
The third frame started with the teams trading points which made it 32-23 at the 7:05 mark. Southwest upped the defensive energy and effectively forced turnovers, and by the 3:40 mark it was now 40-23. The Spartans ended the drought with a bucket at the 3:20 mark to make it 40-25. Another solid 7-0 run pushed the lead out to 47-25 before the Spartans scored again at the 1:49 mark to cut the margin to 47-28. The third quarter ended sloppily with the Cowboys up 50-30.
The final stanza was a physical battle, but the Cowboys managed to keep the Spartans at arms length despite some less effective defensive possessions. A couple of times the Spartans got the margin down to 15, but Southwest and their bench was able to push the margin back over 20 points and the Cowboys emerged victorious again with a 70-49 conference win to stay atop the Piedmont Triad 3A Conference.
The Spartans were led by Quest Aldridge with 15 points. Southwest featured: Christian Martin with (18, 10 Rebs, 2 Asts, Stl), Kobe Langley with (16, 5 Asts, 2 Stls, Blk), Keyshaun Langley with (15, 11 Assists, 6 Rebs, 5 Stls, 2 Blks), and Jay’Den Turner with (12, 2 Rebs, 2 Blks, Ast). Southwest improves to 15-0 overall and 5-0 in Conference play.
1st 2nd 3rd 4th Final
Mt. Tabor 10 11 09 19 49
Southwest 15 15 20 20 70
Mt. Tabor (11-5, 3-2)
Shaylen Woodberry 3
Jakob Moore 7
Quest Aldridge 15
Josiah Banks 4
Andrew Muse 2
Aaron Muse 2
Duncan Smits 6
Dillon Bullard 8
Southwest (15-0, 5-0)
Keyshaun Langley 15, 11 Assists, 6 Rebs, 5 Stls, 2 Blks
Kobe Langley 16, 5 Asts, 2 Stls, Blk
Milli Huggins 4 Rebs, Stl
Cameron Thompson Reb
Jayden Turner 12, 2 Rebs, 2 Blks, Ast)
Christian Martin 18, 10 Rebs, 2 Asts, Stl
Nysiek Walcott Ast, Stl
Bryce Causey Stl
Joel Pettiford 4, 7 Rebs
Miles Taylor 1, Stl
Aamaj Platt 2, Reb, Stl
Rodney Scott 2
Caleb Theriault Reb
Courtesy of Southwest Guilford assistant coach Greg Vlazny