Wild finish over at “The Ranch”, there at Southwest Guilford High School, in High Point…At the 29th Annual Sheetz Classic Invitational High School Basketball Tournament, the final game of the day has a Final Score of:
Southwest Guilford Cowboys 70, Davie County War Eagles 68
This was one of those “Game of the Week”, “Game of the Month” and maybe even a “Game of the Year” candidate…This one went right down to the wire…Davie was down 70-68 in the closing seconds, but could not top the SWG Cowboys…
There were key made Free Throws by both teams down the stretch and just look back at how close this game was throughout the night…
End of First Quarter:SWG 13, Davie 11…Halftime:Davie 28, SWG 27…End of the Third Quarter:SWG 44, Davie 44…
This was one of those games your grandpa used to tell you about…Made key Free Throws, Made Key Three-pointers, Clutch Rebounds, Teams making the most of every possession, and both trying to avoid getting into serious foul trouble…
The excitement of this game reached a extremely high level, just as the Southwest Guilford Cowboys were looking to put some space between them and the War Eagles late in the game…It was getting late, but there was still enough time left for the drama to reach a ‘Fever Pitch”, right when the SWG Cowboys took a 7-point lead, with around two minutes left in this contest…SWG goes up by seven, but the Cowboys commit a foul, and the SWG player called for that foul argues the call and gets hit with a technical foul…
So with his team down by seven big points, Bryson Mickey stepped up to the charity stripe/free throw line and hit the two Foul Shots…Then Mickey hit the two Technical Foul Free Throws, and each shot slipped right through the net with a Swish…Davie had been down by seven points, and after the two FTs for the Technical, Davie got the ball and hit a two-point shot…This was Six-Point Play…
Southwest still had that one-point lead and even though Davie was later able to tie the game up, SWG’s Gatling, Brooks, and Howze hit some very big Free Throws in the game’s waning moments…SWG would not give that lead away, as the fourth period was winding down…For the game as a whole, SWG hit 12 free throws, while Davie nailed nine of their free tosses…
With game all tied up late, and Southwest in possession, it appeared Davie had forced SWG to throw the ball away, with the basketball going out-of-bounds near the Cowboys’ bench…But, and I mean this became a Big But…Southwest had called a timeout as the ball was going out-of-bounds and it was ruled SWG got the time, called in time, and that Southwest still had maintained possession of the basketball…Davie was ready to get ball, thinking that they had forced a key turnover, and their plan was to get the ball, make the go-head bucket and win the game….But the ball went to SWG Cowboys, and they got the win at home…
This game was filled with exciting moments, and Southwest Guilford benefited from the good job done by the young men off of that Southwest Guilford County Middle School Boys Championship team from back in the Winter of 2023…You had from that team for SWG, Brayden Gatling(Soph.) with 16 points, Myles Graves(Soph.) with 9 points on three 3s, and Darrell Howze(Fresh.) with 9 points…Those three kids are a part of the main core of this SWG team’s success, with them providing right at half of the Cowboys 70 points…The three, Gatling, Graves, and Howze combined for 34 points…Savion Brooks led the Cowboys in scoring with 21 points…Christian Johnson added 9 points, while Wesley Oxce and Kamar Billie-Fanning had two points each….Gatling with five made FTs, Howze with 3, Brooks and Billie-Fanning with two a-piece….Brooks and Graves both with Three 3s in the victory…
Davie County got back in the game with those four Bryson Mickie free throws and the two point bucket after the Technical, but Southwest Guilford was able to get it done at home, there at “The Ranch”, with strong play late, and that late Timeout Call, with the ball headed out bounds, that turned out to be one of those “Game-Saving Calls”, coming from Southwest Guilford Cowboys head coach, Greg Vlazny….
This game had more drama the Survivor Season Finale on CBS…The SWG Cowboys have survived and advanced in this year’s 2024 Sheetz Christmas Classic Basketball Tournament…
Gave the scoring details for SWG, and here we go for Davie County:
Elliott Erlandsson with 22 points, Bryson Mickey with 19, Jackson Powers with 12, Landon King with 5, Ethan Driver 4, Isaac Swisher 3, Asher Tolbert 3…
More Scores:
Davie County girls 45, Northwest Cabarrus 23
Wesleyan Christian Academy boys 88, Charlotte Olympic 70
WES:Zacch Wiggins 18, Quamir Ingram 16, Nick Keith 14, Noah Dobyns 12, Williams 9, Hancock 8, Augunas 5, Young 2, Brooks 2, Morning 2
Olympic:Randy Johnson 20; JD Terrell 18; Maurice Sabb 12; Hall 8; Hardnett 6; Cota 2; McAdams 2; Jenkins 2
Southwest Guilford girls 58, Southern Guilford 32
End of First Quarter:SWG 12, SG 6…SG led early, and then SWG really took over…Halftime:SWG 30, SG 15…End of Third Quarter:SWG 41, SG 25…Final:SWG 58, SG 32…
SWG scoring:Kennedy Leggett and Star Hughes with 14 points each to lead the SWG Cowgirls to the win…Everett with 9 points, Tiana Freeman with 7, Lloyd 4, Wafford 3, Lee 2
SG scoring leaders:Courtney Griffith 13 points, Slaughter 9, Carlyle 6, Brown 2
More on these games and other scores coming up…
During today’s activities there was a Jersey Retirement Ceremony/Hall of Fame Induction for former Wesleyan Christian Academy Trojan basketball player Aaron Wiggins…This was done in a side room, off from the Jim Coggins Gym, there at Southwest Guilford, and the biggest deal about this event was that all of the Oklahoma City Thunder players from the NBA, were there to take in this moment, with their OKC Thunder teammate, Aaron Wiggins…What a moment, all of the OKC Thunder and the team’s coaches there with Aaron for this special day…Nice stuff, and the NBA’s Oklahoma City Thunder and Aaron Wiggins come to “The Ranch”, there at Southwest Guilford High School…Again, nice stuff and good job Aaron and The Thunder….Aaron Wiggins played his college basketball for the Maryland Terrapins, after his outstanding high school days at WES, and at Grimsley HS…..
29th Sheetz Christmas/Christman Classic for Saturday:
Girl’s/Women’s Semifinals:
#2 Southwest Guilford vs. #3 Oak Grove at 3pm in the Jim Coggins Gym at Southwest Guilford HS
(Star Hughes with some real smooth moves for SWG, and Kennedy Leggett has a very solid outside shot going in, for the Cowgirls.)
#1 Wesleyan Christian Academy vs. #4 Davie County at 6pm in the Coggins Gym at SWGHS…
(Little Cooper Cox still growing up for the WES girls and she is growing in a good way…Some are saying Cox Rocks out there on the court, and she has some very promising teammates there at WES working with her to make the Trojans a major contender for the Girls Title.)
Girl’s/Women’s Consolation Games:
#8 High Point Central vs. #5 Northwest Cabarrus 12 NOON in the Coggins Gym
#6 Western Guilford vs. #7 Southern Guilford 1:30pm in the Coggins Gym
Boy’s/Men’s Semifinals:
#2 High Point Christian vs. #3 High Point Central 4:30pm in the Coggins Gym
(HP Central one of the most improved teams in our area right now.)
#1 Wesleyan Christian Academy vs. #4 Southwest Guilford 7:30pm in the Coggins Gym
(WES with some real good athletes on that roster, and SWG young and very hungry right now, and SWG knows what they can do, and they seem to have the ability to play within their limitions that you will find on young and hungry team.)
Boy’s/Men’s Consolation Games:
#5 Davie County vs. #8 Olympic 12 NOON in the SWG Annex Gym
(We saw both Davie and Olympic playing on Friday, and both of these two teams are Very Good…Should be a very good ball game for the boys first game of the day, in the Consolation Bracket.)
#6 Seaforth vs. #7 Western Guilford 1:30pm in the SWG Annex Gym
MORE area girls scores from Friday and from Friday night:
Chapel Hill 73, Northeast Guilford 15
Bishop McGuinness 54, Fairmont 41
Northern Guilford 62, Albemarle 53
Concord Academy 56, Northwest Guilford 43
Rockingham County 55, South Stokes 24
West Forsyth 49, Wheatmore 34
East Forsyth 62, Ashe County 53
Robinson 63, Ledford 55
Randleman 42, Lexington 35
MORE boys scores:
Smith 71, Sun Valley 44
Bear Creek Academy 48, New Garden Friends School 40
The Burlington School 64, High Point Andrews 58
Asheboro 55, Burlington Williams 46
Ledford 58, Lexington 51