Day 2 of action in the Sheetz Holiday Classic featured the first semifinal in the boy's bracket. This matchup pitted the Cowboys of Southwest against the Bulldogs of Thomasville High School. Thomasville was able to hold off Caldwell Academy, and the Cowboys tethered the Knights of North Davidson. Once again the Cowboys found themselves in a hole, playing sloppy and uninspired basketball as the Bulldogs got up 14-5 within the first 4:30 minutes of the game. Southwest tried to claw their way back into it, and pulled it to 18-14 at the close of the first quarter. The secon quarter opened with a quick spurt for the Cowboys to tie the game at 18, but the Bulldogs responded and went back up 22-18. The game would seesaw from there until the 2:50 mark when Southwest claimed the lead at 27-26, then closing the half on a small advantage taking a 33-29 lead at the buzzer. The second half began with a Cowboy basket off the inbound, then proceeded to get 3 straight steals to help spark a run. Southwest got the largest lead of the game thus far at 44-31. The Bulldogs would not go quietly, starting a 6-0 run of their own, making it 44-37, and fought it back to 48-44 at the close of the third quarter with Thomasville holding the momentum. The final stanza opened with a Bulldog score making it 48-46. The teams traded scores, with Thomasville cut the lead to its slimmest point at 52-51 at the 5:09 mark. But a quick 5-0 spurt by the Cowboys put the lead back to 6, but a 3 pointer by Thomasville not 10 seconds later made it 57-54. Finally, the speed of the Cowboys got the best of the Bulldogs who seemed to have gotten worn down by the depth of the Cowboys as another flurry of steals and layups by Southwest pulled the game away. Despite a terrible shooting performance by the team, the Cowboys of Southwest were able to come out victorious to reach the 3rd straight Sheetz Holiday Classic Championship game tomorrow night with a 79-64 win over Thomasville. The Bulldogs were led by Brian McElveen with 22 points. Southwest was led by Rick Mack with 18, DJ Chamblee with 15, 11 Rebs, 2 Stls, Kam Langley with 15, 7 Rebs, 2 Asts, and Kaymon Mitchell with 10, 4 Rebs.

 

                      1st  2nd  3rd  4th  Final
Thomasville   18   11    15   20    64
Southwest      14   19    15   31    79

Thomasville (2-6)

Demoris Payne 5

Jahare Thomas-Taylor 3

Cedric Green 14

Dwain Purvis 6

Brian McElveen 22

Quadell Hill 4

Michael Gillespie 10

 Southwest (7-3)
Tyliek Brister 8, 4 Rebs
Rick Mack 18
KJ Langley 6, 4 Rebs, 2 Asts, 2 Stls
Ben Ferguson 2, 6 Rebs, 3 Asts, 2 Stls
DJ Chamblee 15
Kam Langley 15
Arjun Patel 5, 3 Blks, 2 Stls

Kaymon Mitchell 10