Finally some basketball! The Cowboys got back into action after everyone had a snowy break from practice and competition. Tonight was the conference opener as the Cowboys hosted the Dudley Panthers. In the second season for the Piedmont Triad 3A Conference, these two teams wanted get out to a solid start. Last season the Cowboys managed to sweep the regular season match-ups, as well as a meeting in the conference tournament. Southwest came into tonight hoping that this hiatus would not slow down the momentum that they had previously built up and stay unbeaten. The Panthers came into tonight after a convincing win last night over High Point Central. Will having the chance to shake off some rust the previous night be an advantage for the visiting Panthers? The opening possessions showed the Cowboys shooting was about as cold as it was inside the gym, with the Panthers connecting to the tune of a 6-2 lead. The Cowboys managed a single free-throw to cut it to 6-3 at the 5:06 mark. It took a full minute later for Southwest to score again to cut it to 6-5, but a quick steal and layup in transition 8 seconds later put the Cowboys up for good on the night at 7-6 with 3:55 to play. A defensive stop, a three pointer, another stop and basket had the Cowboys up 12-6. The Panthers showed some fight with a made three pointer making it 12-9 with 1:38 to go in the frame. Southwest managed an 8-0 run to push the lead out to 20-9 with 16 seconds to play. The Panthers managed a made free-throw to stop the run, but on the ensuing Cowboys possession the Cowboys made it 22-10 to end the frame. Southwest came out strong in the second stanza with a 7-2 spurt to go ahead 29-12 at the 5:15 point. Southwest kept the tempo and slowly kept pulling further and further ahead. Forcing turnovers and getting easy looks got the margin up to 39-19 with 3:15 to play. The margin peaked at 23 in the frame, but the Panthers held the tide back for the frame, and the halftime score was 49-29. The opening inbounds of the second half was indicative of how the rest of the game would be. A steal and a strong reverse dunk by the Cowboys made it 51-29. The Panther got a basket back, but the Cowboys turned that around with 2 more. That was how it would be. The Cowboys uptempo was too much and the Panthers could barely hold the tide from breaking in, but they kept the margin under 40 within the third quarter. The Cowboys bench showed up well in the last minutes of the frame however as the lead peaked at 77-38, but a Dudley three pointer just before the frame ended cut it to 77-41. Southwest's bench managed to push the margin over 40 that got the clock moving, which quickly ended the game. Despite allowing the Panthers a scoring run, Southwest managed to cruise to a convincing conference win at 91-58. The Panthers were led by Isaiah Staton-Ray with 13 points. Southwest played a solid team game with contributions throughout the roster. Keyshaun Langley had (15, 3 Asts, 3 Rebs, and 2 Stls), Jay'Den Turner had (15, 5 Stls, 4 Rebs, and 3 Asts), Joel Pettiford had (14, 2 Rebs), Christian Martin had (12, 4 Asts, 3 Rebs). Also of note was; Cam Thompson with (11, 2 Stls) and with a near double double Kobe Langley with (9, 8 Asts, 4 Rebs, and 3 Stls). Southwest hosts cross-town rivals Ragsdale Tigers Friday night at 6:00pm.

                     1st 2nd 3rd 4th Final

Dudley           10  19  12   17   58

Southwest     22  27  28   14   91

Dudley (4-3, 0-1)

Taron Trotman 11

Ayden Gamble 3

Domonique Andrews 3

Jeremiah Dickerson 10

Isaiah Staton-Ray 13

Manny Elliott 8

Darien Wynn 5

Cameron Thomas 3

Tyler Young 2

Southwest (6-0, 1-0)  

Keyshaun Langley 15, 3 Asts, 3 Rebs, and 2 Stls

Kobe Langley 9, 8 Asts, 4 Rebs, and 3 Stls

Milli Huggins 4, 3 Rebs, Stl, Ast

Cameron Thompson 11, 2 Stls

Jayden Turner 15, 5 Stls, 4 Rebs, and 3 Asts

Christian Martin 12, 4 Asts, 3 Rebs

Nysiek Walcott 3, 3 Rebs

Bryce Causey 2, Ast, Reb, Stl

Joel Pettiford 14, 2 Rebs

Miles Taylor 2, 2  Rebs

Aamaj Platt 2, 3 Rebs

Jeremy Mull Ast

Caleb Theriault 2, Reb