The opening round of the State 4A playoffs had the Cowboys of Southwest hit the road to face the Bulldogs of Butler High School in Matthews NC.  The opening minutes of the game was a back and forth affair with the teams trading baskets. The Bulldogs held the lead at 9-7, but a 13-0 run by the Cowboys got the lead to 20-9. By the time the frame ended the Cowboys had control and were up 24-16. Butler regrouped and started the second frame on a 7-0 run to cut the margin to 24-23. Southwest woke up from the funk and went on an 8-0 run of their own to push it back out to 32-23. Just before the half ended another 3 points by the Cowboys made the tally 40-30 going into the break. The third quarter was almost a carbon copy of the first half with the each team trading runs, baskets, and momentum. This time the Bulldogs ended the frame with a 3 point play of their own to cut the margin to 53-44 in favor of the Cowboys headed into the final stanza. A Cowboy turnover, followed by missing both freebies and a 3-pointer by Butler set the tone for the rest of the frame within the first minute of the 4th quarter. Butler kept chipping away, while the Cowboys offense stalled and terrible free throw shooting continued to haunt Southwest as it had in their last 2 games. The Bulldogs pulled even at the 4:10 mark at 60. The teams traded baskets, then a deep 3-pointer gave Butler a 65-62 lead at the 3:30 mark. Southwest drew a foul on the ensuing possession, but once again went 0-2 from the stripe. The Cowboys got the important stop on the defensive end, and scored to get it to 65-64 at the 2:40 mark. A Bulldog basket got the lead to 3, but a 3 pointer by the Cowboys tied the ball game back up at 67 with 1:40 to play. A pair of Bulldog free-throws gave them the lead with 1:03 left. A huge basket by the Cowboys gave them the lead at 70-69 with just 40 seconds to play. Butler came down the court and called timeout. After the timeout the Bulldogs executed well and got the basket to go to regain the lead at 71-70 with less than 30 seconds to play. Southwest came right back down and attacked the basket. A questionable no call and the ball went out of bounds but the Cowboys kept possession. After each 3 successive timeouts, the Cowboys executed the inbounds perfectly and the Bulldogs were forced to foul on the layup attempt, and the ball didn’t fall through, sending the Cowboy player to the line with on 4 seconds on the clock. The theme of terrible free-throw shooting continued as neither one would fall. Once Southwest was able to foul there only showed 1.7 on the clock. The Bulldogs missed on the first attempt and the Cowboys called timeout. Southwest worked on an inbound, and then the Butler player made the second free-throw to take it to 72-70. The inbound worked thanks to the precision full court pass by Austen Zente. The Cowboy player caught the ball at the top of the key, gave a good ball fake and leaned into a good look at the basket….and just wouldn’t find the bottom of the net as the horn sounded. Southwest fell short 72-70. Butler was led by Vanderbilt bound Matthew Fisher-Davis with 28. Southwest was led by Ben Ferguson with 17, 4 Rebs, and 2 Asts, and DJ Chamblee with 15 and 10 Rebs.

                   1st  2nd 3rd  4th  Final
Butler          16   14   14   28   72  
Southwest   24    16   13  17   70    

Butler
Raequan Scott 12

Matthew Fisher-Davis 28

Arthur Labinowzz 2

Leito Holloway 1

Orlando Robinson 2

Giaronni Mack 18

Jay Gibbs 6

James Hill 2

Southwest

Tyliek Brister 6

Rick Mack 2

KJ Langley 11, 2 Reb, 2 Asts

Ben Ferguson 17

Austen Zente 2, 3 Rebs,

DJ Chamblee 15

Kameron Langley 9, 4 Rebs

Arjun Patel 4, 3 Rebs

Kaymon Mitchell 4, 3 Rebs, 2 Asts