Game Report on Southwest Guilford-WS Parkland Boys Basketball:SWG Cowboys cruise past Parkland with Pettiford, Turner and Kobe Langley leading the strong Round Two effort

The second round of the NCHSAA 3A State playoffs featured a conference clash between the Parkland Mustangs and the Southwest Guilford Cowboys. The Piedmont Triad 3A Conference went 5-0 in the opening round on Tuesday night, solidifying that it was the strongest conference in the state. Tonight’s tilt was the 4th time these two conference foes played each other. The two regular season games were convincing wins by the undefeated Cowboys. The 3rd matchup was in the semifinals of the conference tournament, and Southwest had to use a strong second half to reclaim the lead and pull ahead and ultimately hold on for the win.

How will these two teams handle playing each other for the 4th time in less than 5 weeks?

The Cowboys got off to a strong start by getting up 12-0 while not allowing any solid looks at the basket for the Mustangs. Parkland couldn’t manage to crack the scoreboard until a made free throw at the 3:56 mark to put it to 12-1.Southwest got 3 more points to push it out to 15-1, and the Mustangs attempt to slow the game down didn’t seem to be effective. Parkland’s first made field goal of the game was three pointer with 1:12 to go and it was 15-4. That was the start of a strong flurry by the visitors as they battled and chipped away to cut the margin down to 19-10 at the close of the opening frame.

Southwest woke up from that defensive fog from the end of the first frame, and really clamped down in the second quarter. The defensive length and discipline of the Cowboys really caused havoc on the Mustangs as they struggled to get anything. Literally. The slow and gritty frame had the Cowboys score the first 12 points yet again, and it was 31-10 with 1:55 to go in the half. The Mustangs got their first and only basket of the frame on a tough lay-in at the 1:10 mark to stop the run. The defensive frame ended with one more basket by the hosts and the halftime score was 33-12.

The second half was slightly more back and forth for the first couple minutes as the teams traded baskets. However, the Cowboys were still being more efficient on both sides of the ball and the margin continued to build. A thunderous dunk peaked the margin at 28, but the Mustangs did a great job of keeping the margin in the mid 20s for the the frame and it closed at 58-32.

The final stanza was similar to the third. The Southwest bench got the margin up to 37, and 36 a couple of times, but the Mustangs starters continued to fight and showed the type of grit they had all season. In the end however, it was too much Southwest and they cruised to an 80-48 win.

The Mustangs were led by the hot shooting of Esosa Igbinigie with 23 points. The Cowboys were led by Joel Pettiford with (19, 13 Rebs, Blk), Jayden Turner with (17, 8 Rebs, 2 Asts, Stl, Blk), and Kobe Langley with (16, 3 Rebs, 3 Asts, 2 Stls, Blk).

The Cowboys advance to square off for another rematch from the regular season as they will host the Storm of Southern Guilford on Saturday. The Cowboys improve to 28-0 on the season.

            1st 2nd 3rd 4th Final
Parkland    10  02  20  16  48
Southwest   19  14  25  22  80

Parkland (16-11)
Camian Shell 9
Esosa Igbinigie 23
Omari Bolden 11
Markell Lloyd 2
Scott Walker 1
Denoris Wardlow 2

Southwest (28-0)
Keyshaun Langley 5, 10 Asts, 8 Rebs, Stl
Kobe Langley 16, 3 Rebs, 3 Asts, 2 Stls, Blk
Milli Huggins 4, 2 Asts, 2 Stls
Cameron Thompson 4, Reb
Jayden Turner 17, 8 Rebs, 2 Asts, Stl, Blk
Christian Martin 9, 3 Rebs, Stl, Ast
Nysiek Walcott 1
Bryce Causey Blk
Joel Pettiford 19, 13 Rebs, Blk
Jeremy Mull 1
Miles Taylor 2
Rodney Scott 2, 3 Rebs

Courtesy of Greg Vlazny, SWG assistant coach